


My holy cock will purify you!

by comic4244, gaylie



Series: comic & gaylie's RPs [1]
Category: Reapertale - Fandom, Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Demons, Enemies to Lovers, Fantasy AU, Heats, M/M, Mating Bites, RP, Roleplay, Warlocks, Wizards
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2019-08-14 07:28:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 59
Words: 197,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16488305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comic4244/pseuds/comic4244, https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaylie/pseuds/gaylie
Summary: Papyrus and Sans came to a village in hopes to go to sleep tonight in a warm bed and food in their bellies, what they didn't expect was the villagers begging sorcerer Sans to help them with their demon problem. Wanting a free meal and a bed, Sans accepted, but due to his brother's bleeding heart, Sans is now forced to take said demon with them.Papyrus was happy.Sans and the demon... not so much.





	1. pfft, you? catch me? don' make m- SHIT!

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first rp that we will be releasing, it is also the rp we started after the original god rp.
> 
> its a lot more organized and the characters stay truer to themselves this time. the plot is exciting and surprises you at every turn. you will grow with the characters and their feelings, i hope you enjoy this experience and give us feedback. You may not know it, but it does wonders in pushing us forward, both of us to continue what we do and continue to share with you. hope you enjoy.

It’s been weeks since they’ve last gotten to a town and they were getting weary. They didn’t have a lot of food left, they were cold and exhausted from traveling. Sans could tell Papyrus was going to get sick if they didn’t find any warm, dry shelter soon, and he wasn’t a lot better or wear either.

 

They had to find some sort of village and they had to find it soon.

 

And they were looking for one, practically traveling through a forest for the entire day, no breaks to eat or rest. Papyrus wasn’t _complaining,_ but Sans _knew_ it was hard on him, it was hard on _Sans_ too. But he didn’t want to spend another night out in the woods.

 

They _had_ to get to one soon. Sans _had_ a map from his father’s library and it said there would be a village past the woods, they just had to get past the woods to _find_ it.

 

It took hours of walking until Sans finally spotted buildings. No, he didn’t even. Papyrus did, and Sans almost thought he was being attacked when he heard his younger brother gasp out. He ran ahead, tugging Sans with him by the wrist.

 

“what?!” Sans asked startled, but he didn’t need to wait for an answer. He could already see it himself, once there were less trees to block the view. There was a church tower, not too far ahead, some houses. It _had_ to be the village on Sans’ map, and they _had_ to find some shelter there.

 

They continued walking towards the village, finally in view. They were still tired, still hungry and exhausted, but there was new hope in their step as they approached it.

 

But by the time they had reached the village, that hope was almost gone again. It barely looked like anyone lived there at all. They _did,_ Sans could see people through the windows of the houses, could hear the distant noise of animals. But the streets were empty, quiet, like there was some kind of danger looming that everyone knew of but Sans and Papyrus.

 

They felt unsafe.

 

 

A dirty middle aged man in rags came up to them hesitantly, wobbling with one leg barely able to support himself. “Hello… young fellows?” He kept looking around, like he was expecting something to jump out and get him, fear was clear on his face and body language. The dirty human oh so deeply didn’t want to be out here in the open.

 

But the gleam of hope in his eyes kept him going, looking at Sans more specific. “Young man, are you a sorcerer?” He eyed the staff that was poking out the skeleton’s backpack, bone in shape, with a dragon skull on one end. Villagers from young to old watched the man talk to the two travelers, hiding when Sans and Papyrus would look at them, but they clearly were hopeful and looking very desperate.

 

 

Sans looked a bit surprised, almost startled, glancing left and right, as if there was _anyone else_ he could be talking to, before facing the man again. “uh… i am,” he replied a bit wary. He didn’t get called out for being a sorcerer a lot, didn’t have that kind of aura, that kind of power or pride. The only thing that really gave him away was the staff Sans never quite managed to let go.

 

“‘m a sorcerer,” he confirmed again. “travelin’. you know where i can… find some shelter, food?”

 

 

The man nodded, his face lighting up in joy. “We can give you food, we can give you shelter and women! Anything you need, we can give you! But please, we need your help oh great sorcerer, there is a demon that is terrorizing our home! We need you to help us get rid of it!”

 

People were starting to file out of their homes, calling out to Sans that he was their savior, that they were saved, that they didn’t have to hide no longer. They crowded around the two skeletons, offering them bread, cheese and many other foods, all of them had hopeful and happy expressions, something that looked like they didn’t do often here.

 

 

Papyrus was the first one to react this time, because quite frankly, Sans was more than overwhelmed by the situation.

 

“OH NO!!!” The younger skeleton said shocked. “A DEMON??? THAT IS TERRIBLE, SANS, WE HAVE TO HELP THEM!”

 

And, well. They kind of did. Not because the village needed help, they _did_ , but what was more important to Sans was that Papyrus and him needed what they were offering. They needed the food, they needed the shelter, hell, they could even go for some money. And the next village was too far away for them to just leave this town and move along.

 

But a demon? He was a sorcerer, yes, but in no way a powerful one. Not powerful enough slay a _demon_ at least.

 

But he heard Papyrus quietly coughing into his fist, worry churning in Sans’ stomach, and he knew he didn’t have any other option.

 

“we don’t, uh… we don’t need any women,” Sans told them, trying not to let his nervousness show. “some shelter and food, maybe some gold would be appreciated and i’ll… get rid of the demon for you.”

 

 _However he was going to do_ that.

 

 

The town cheered pushing Sans and Papyrus to the mead hall, giving them any drink they wanted and how much food Sans and Papyrus asked for, the man that first talked to them had told them about letting them stay in an old hut that used to belong to some villagers, but was sadly eaten by the demon. The next day, the sorcerer was expected and cheered to go into the woods to the west to defeat the demon, relieving the town from it’s clutches.

 

 

Sans had left Papyrus at the hut the next day. Leaving him alone left Sans nervous and anxious, worried, but taking him with him to the demon was a no-go. They had eaten the day before. As much and as well as they could, had stuffed their bags with breads and cheeses for when they would continue their journey. _If_ they would continue their journey…

 

He was sent into the forest alone. Sans didn’t bring a lot, deciding that his bag filled with food would just weigh him down, though he brought some necessities. He brought potions. As many, as strong as he could possibly make, praying that they were enough to kill the demon.

 

Sans was told to follow the marks and trails to the demon’s cave, where he would most likely find him. And Sans did. Through the entire time trying to think of a way out of this situation. Trying to figure out if he could go back and trick the villagers into thinking the demon was dead.

 

But Sans went on. And on, and on, until an hour passed and he stood before a cave.

 

This was… bad. This was practically a suicide mission. But it had provided them the food and shelter they needed, _Papyrus_ needed…

 

Sans took his bag off as quietly as he could, taking out the traps he had brought with him. They weren’t even good traps, nets and rope he would lay out, a bear trap being the only real efficient one. But they weren’t meant to do the job in the first place, were meant to only slow the demon down long enough for Sans to throw his potions at him.

 

He knew the demon killed villagers, so he brought some raw meat he placed into the bear trap, before hiding behind a conveniently shaped bolder, waiting for _something_ to happen…

 

A few hours past, nothing happened, the demon was not in it’s cave. Or then it would of came out with the noise Sans made setting up the traps. Only when morning turned to midday that the creature finally came back to it’s cave. It looked like a skeleton monster, like Sans, or what’s left of it. The demon had hind legs of an animal, having two joints instead of one like a normal human. It still walked on two legs oddly enough, it had sharp nails from it’s feet to it’s hands, razor sharp teeth that was stained with dried blood. It wore some ripped and dirty shorts and a blouse, simple and plain other than the many stains and tears on it’s clothes.

 

The wings on it’s back were decently sized, it was a small creature, meaning small wings, it might be a few inches shorter than Sans himself, and Sans was considered a small monster. It had curved horns, long and with many layers, like a dragon’s horns. The horn started up, but quickly curved behind and back of the skull, before curving up into the air. It had hollow and piercing sockets, like they could see into your very soul. It’s long and bony tail swishing slowly behind it.

 

It stopped once it smelled the meat, staring at it like it offended it’s family. He sniffed at the air, before looking straight where Sans was hiding, looking very unamused and bored. “‘re ya even tryin’?” His voice was dark and messed up somehow, sort of bubbling and distorted.

 

The creature walked around the trap, never looking away from where Sans hid, grinning. “ya deserve ta die.”

 

 

Sans eyes were wide in fear as he stared at the demon, hands readied on the potions on his belt. The demon didn’t even seem _interested_ in the lure, and worse even, was a lot smarter than Sans had hoped for, circling the trap, _talking._

 

“don’t come any closer,” Sans tried, doing his best to let his voice not shake, one hand reaching for his staff in show, as the other stayed at his belt. “i’m a powerful, holy sorcerer and i _will_ strike you down if you come any closer!”

 

 

The demon took a large whiff at Sans, smirking all the more wider, it was unhinged and crazed, like every sense of morality and reason left this soul so long ago. It didn’t speak anymore, letting Sans figure out it didn’t smell a powerful, holy sorcerer at _all_. Not noticing his foot land in a trap, too busy teasing the other monster before he died, but only ended up with the rope clapping around his ankle, and pulling him up. The demon yelped as it’s legs were no longer on the ground, and his head was closer to it than his feet. It growled and hissed at Sans, the arms and hands either trying to reach the ground or try to grab onto Sans, the wings beating helplessly with the position he was in. Unable to get a good handle on lifting itself up with being upside down.

 

Sans gasped when the demon got caught in the trap, needing a moment to catch on on what just happened. For a moment, a very scary split moment, Sans thought the demon had striked. But now it was hanging in the air, flailing and hissing and growling and Sans realized _this_ was his chance.

 

He didn’t manage to say anything as he quickly, hurriedly searched up the right potion, the one he brewed the night before to kill a creature, tossing the small vial at the demon. The glass broke against its head, covering it’s face in it, and Sans quickly duck down, hiding slightly behind a boulder, hands covering his mouth and nose to avoid breathing in any fumes as he watched the potion work it’s way onto the demon.

 

 

Ever so slowly, the demon stopped struggling, getting more weak until it stopped moving in general, it’s arms and one leg hang motionless, while his wings and tail was like a flag without any wind, lifeless and a motionless, but the breathing and rise and fall of his chest never stopped, only slowed and subtle.

 

 

Sans slowly rose once the demon stopped moving. Was it dead? Was it playing him? No, it wouldn’t, right? Demons didn’t act that way. Did… the potion really work?  


“fuck, fuck, fuck,” Sans cursed anxiously as he made his way towards the demon, stopping a few feet in front of it to bump the butt of his staff into it’s limp body. Before he saw it’s chest raise, and Sans practically jumped away from it.

 

No. Fuck. That thing was only unconscious. How was he supposed to deal with _that?_ He didn’t have any weapons to kill it with!

 

But… it _looked_ dead if you didn’t look too close. And the village wanted to see it’s dead body, it… it would have to do the job, right?

 

Sans pulled his bag close again as he got out a muzzle he brought in the case it would’ve come to a fight and quickly put it on the demon, two straps going to the side of it’s skull, one over the top.

 

He didn’t bring shackles, but restrain spells was something even Sans could do. He mouthed the words he memorized, using his staff to guide the magic, letting it form shackles around it’s wrists and ankles, chaining them together, as well as a thick belt to keep the wings stuck to its body.

 

He ended up untying the trap from it’s foot, catching it from the air with a huff. Fuck. He had to carry that thing into the village. And he had to do it quick enough for it not to wake up. And while the demon was shorter than him, not particularly heavy, it _still_ added a good weight.

 

He threw the creature over his shoulder as he began making his way back to the village, deciding to be as quick as possible. They got their food, they got their shelter. Sans would show them the unconscious demon, would leave it shackled in the hut, in the village, and leave with Papyrus in the night.

 

 

When Sans arrived to the village, everyone ran out of their huts to meet Sans as he closed in. All shouting in joy and telling Sans what an amazing sorcerer he was, that he was a blessing from the lords and he should be honored. Many of the villagers looked at the demon over his shoulder with fear and mall gasps, whispering of the loved ones they lost from that same demon.

 

Some even reached for the demon, screaming about revenge, even if the demon is dead, they can still unleash their rage and sorrow on it’s body. To redeem themselves from not being able to help their loved ones that has fallen to this beast.

 

 

Sans tried to step away from the reaching hands, quietly cursing under his breath. If he’d let them get their hands on the demon, they’d notice he was only unconscious, and he couldn’t let that happen.

 

“hey, back off,” he said, doing his best to make himself sound more demanding. He wasn’t used to that sort of thing, but he figured if he was already going to be an ‘honored sorcerer’ he might as well take the authority of one. “i’d like to keep it in one piece, as a trophy.”

 

 

Most of the villagers voiced their disappoint, only some called out that he could keep the head, but leave the body to be managed. But most kept their hands to themselves, respecting the words of someone who just saved them and their family. The man from before cut through the crowd, bowing to him with a big smile. “Thank you kind sir, for all that you have done for us, we are forever in gratitude to you.”

 

 

Sans’ own smile was nervous and unsure. How did one even respond to this? How did one respond to this when you _haven’t even actually killed the demon._

 

“you’re welcome,” he said, his voice quick and clear. “your village is safe now. i will… i have to go back to my residence to… properly prepare my trophy for carrying. do not disrupt me.”

 

The man called out to the sorcerer, his tone light and joyful, only slightly hurried to make Sans hear him. “Do you need anything young traveler for your journey? A horse? Food?” He had to talk louder than the celebrating villagers to make Sans hear him, but his voice wasn’t able to shout very loud, his vocal cords unable to go that loud.

 

 

Sans was about to speed walk out of the crowd, every second he spent in the attention longer being a risk. But he paused, glancing at the man as he considered the offers.

 

“...a horse,” he replied a bit hesitant. “a horse would be good. bring it to my hut and leave it there, yea? i need to prepare my trophy for carrying, i cannot be disturbed.”

 

 

The man nodded, already sending a farm boy to get a horse for their hero, waving him goodbye.

 

 

Sans nodded one last time, before finally walking back to the hut he was given for his stay. Papyrus was already waiting for him having heard the cheering after Sans arrival, but decided to stay inside as his brother requested.

 

“DID YOU DO IT???” He asked, eying the creature over Sans’ shoulder curiously.

 

Sans glanced around warily if anyone else was around, before closing the door behind him, shaking his head to Papyrus.

  
“WHAT???”

 

“‘e’s still alive,” Sans explained quietly, dropping the demon on the floor. “the villagers think he’s dead.”

 

“SANS, THAT IS AWFUL!” Papyrus gasped shocked. “WE CAN’T DO THAT TO THEM! THEY’VE TREATED US SO NICE, THEY THINK THEY’RE _SAFE_!!!”

 

“they’ve treated us nice ‘cause they thought i could kill ‘im, paps,” Sans sighed out. “we needed the food ‘n shelter, anythin’ else isn’t our problem anymore.”

 

Papyrus was practically glaring Sans down, but the older brother sighed, going up to him to hold him close. He didn’t _like_ lying to the village and leaving them in a situation like this. But if they wanted to survive, he had _no choice._

 

“i’m sorry paps,” he muttered out quietly. “we’ll leave tonight.”

 

And they did. As soon as night fell upon them and Sans made sure no villagers were outside anymore, he packed everything and as much as he needed into both his and Papyrus’ bag, before ushering his little brother out.

 

But Papyrus hesitated.

 

“We’ll take it with us,” he whispered out quietly.

 

Sans blinked. “what?”

 

“The demon!!!”  
  
“ _what!?_ ”  
  
He knew the second Papyrus glared up at him, arms akimbo like he was going to give him a lecture, that he could not change his little brothers mind. “You told the village they would be safe! If we leave it here it’s either going to break free and kill people or die itself! I’m _not_ letting that happen!”

 

“and what if it breaks free when we take it _with_ us, paps? what then?” Sans challenged, his tone as stubborn as his little brother’s, but both keeping their voice low. “it’ll _kill_ us! it’s either us or them.”  
  
“We’re taking it with us or I’ll let the village know it’s alive.”  
  
Sans eyes widened. “ _papyrus,_ ” he warned, his voice wary. If the town found out Sans lied to them, abused their hospitality, he didn’t think it would end well for _anyone._ But Papyrus was already taking a breath, ready to scream out his message, before Sans practically pounced him, a hand covering his little brother’s mouth.

 

“ok, _ok,_ ” he hissed out. “we’re takin’ it with us.”  
  
He could only pray the restrains were enough to keep the demon at bay.

 

He helped Papyrus onto the horse, before quietly taking a second one from the closest stable he could spot. He put the demon on the horse Sans was riding himself, still unconscious and lying on it’s stomach behind him, making Sans feel even worse than unsafe and uncomfortable.

 

They left the village as quietly as they could, deciding to put as much distance between them and the village before sunrise as they could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments:  
> [[x]](http://puu.sh/BUDVi/809d8f70a0.png) [[x]](http://puu.sh/BUDXn/80d8d04237.png)


	2. fuck blankets! i hate them! aaahhhhh

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, if you like this rp and would like to talk to me (gaylie) and comic4244 about it, why don't you check out our [discord](https://discord.gg/qRRxn6g)? it's pretty dead right now, but we'll hope it'll get more lively with more people!  
> we also still take votes on which rp you'd like to see next on [this poll!](https://www.strawpoll.me/16737486)

When sunrise did break, the rise of the sun hit the demon’s sockets, irritating them and making it impossible to sleep through. It opened it’s eye sockets slowly, having trouble to adjust to so much light, it wasn’t used to all this light, and it felt vulnerable, like one would feel out in the open when they  _ knew  _ they were being chased. The demon tried to rub at it’s sockets, but felt resistance on its wrist, now this woke it up. It’s sockets snapped open when the memories flew by, it gasped as it arched it’s back, losing balance on the horse and falling off it, landing hard on the ground.

 

The moment it felt soil under it, it started to squirm and snarl, tail being whipped around every direction to gain some sort of stability.

  
  


Papyrus yelped in surprise as the demon suddenly fell off Sans’ horse. He stopped his own horse, Sans doing the same, cursing quietly.

 

“stay back, paps,” he told his brother quickly, before getting off the horse. He hesitantly stepped closer to the demon, pointing his staff at it. “stop struggling or i’ll have to knock you out again.”

  
  


The demon hissed at the skeleton, before moving its body away from Sans. It started to roll away, fast enough to catch up to with a simple speed walk, but still fast for someone, or some _ thing  _ who was rolling.

  
  


Sans cursed when he saw the demon rolling away, for a moment considering to just… let him. Until he heard Papyrus screech surprised and Sans remembered that he  _ wasn’t _ supposed to let the demon loose, and that  _ now _ the demon knew where they were. If it broke out of it’s bounds it could seek them up and kill them easily.

 

So Sans hurried after the demon, slamming his staff into the ground so the chains of the shackles caught onto it.

 

“wha’ the fuck ‘re you even  _ planning, _ ” he hissed out, stressed and annoyed. “i’ve  _ bound _ you, y’ can’t break ‘em without my magic, so don’t even try to run.”

 

Which, well. He  _ hoped _ would be true at least. He had no actual idea how strong the cuffs were, but they were lacking any key-holes to unlock, they were  _ meant _ to be taken off with magic, if at all.

  
  


The creature snarled at the monster above it, kicking its bound feet behind Sans’ knees, making him lose his balance and fall. The demon quickly used the opportunity and slammed his feet down on Sans’ head.

 

It wasn’t a really good hit, the bounds and the position it was in making it hard to maneuver and push it’s weight to make a harder blow. But it will have to do.

 

The demon then started to roll away again, using every bit of energy and willpower to push it’s body as far away as possible, aiming to go into the tall grass to be able to lose the skeletons better.

  
  


“mother _ fuck- _ ” Sans cursed as he struggled to get up again, a hand rubbing his sore skull. He could hear Papyrus calling for him, running to him, but held his hand out for him to stop.

 

“‘m gettin’ that fucker back,” he hissed, before making his way after it. He ran his hand over the vials on his belt before picking a green one, quickly tossing it towards the demon.

  
  


The demon felt something hit it’s back, but it ignored it more so he could get away. Only after it noticed it’s body getting slower, no matter how much it pushed for it to move, it didn’t. It ended up laying face down on the ground, trying wiggle even the tiniest bit, but not getting so far but a twitch every so often. The demon looked at Sans from the side, able to see the waist down of the skeleton with it’s position.

  
  


“‘ve got more where that came from,” he hissed towards the demon, roughly picking it up from the ground and walking back to where he left the horses, grumbling under his breath. “stupid demon, ruinin’ my stupid day with your stupid demon strength. makin’ me carry it’s stupid ass onto the stupid horse.”

 

He flopped the demon down onto the horse carelessly, before getting on it himself. “c’mon, paps. le’s go.”

 

“ARE THEY OKAY???” Papyrus asked, glancing at the demon concerned as he climbed onto his own horse.

 

“‘is a demon, paps,” Sans reminded him a bit miffed. “...but yea. just paralyzed it. now let’s go.”

  
  


Having been kidnapped and paralyzed, laying on a deliciously looking horse that it can’t eat, also being made a fool by this stupid skeleton that for some reason doesn’t want to let it go for whatever purposes he has with it.

 

This was getting worse than it thought, but at least there is one ray of hope left for it. Once it’s brother comes back from their trip, sees that it is gone. They will start looking, following it’s scent until they find where it is right now.

 

“my siblin’ is comin…” It said darkly, loud enough for Sans to hear if he payed attention enough, chuckling darkly as it stared holes into Sans’ skull.

  
  


Sans eyes widened in shock as he heard the demon’s dark voice. It had a  _ sibling. _ No one told him about a fucking  _ sibling! _

 

“paps, we gotta ditch it,” Sans uttered out, his voice quiet but grave. Papyrus looked up surprised.

 

“WHY? YOU DON’T WANT TO SET THEM FREE-”

 

“‘cause it’s gonna fuckin’  _ kill _ us if i do.”   
  
“-AND IF WE LEAVE THEM HERE SHACKLED LIKE THAT THEY’RE GOING TO DIE!” Papyrus went on despite Sans’ complaining. “WE CAN’T DO THAT!”

 

“we can. ‘s a  _ demon, _ papyrus!”

 

“AND I’M A MONSTER. AND THE VILLAGERS WERE HUMANS.” Papyrus was not letting this go, his tone defensive, not letting anything in.

 

“it’s gonna fuckin’  _ kill us _ !” Sans insisted. “it’s got a fuckin’ sibling, paps, it’s gonna hunt us  _ down. _ ”   
  
“THEY DO???” Papyrus asked surprised, with a tone in his voice Sans hadn’t expected. “THEY HAVE A FAMILY???”

 

“i- i mean-”   
  
“YOU WERE THINKING OF LETTING THEM DIE WHEN THEY HAVE  _ FAMILY _ LOOKING FOR THEM???”

 

Sans frowned, glaring ahead as they kept riding silently. It didn’t matter if the thing had a family or not. It was a  _ demon. _ It was  _ dangerous, _ a  _ threat. _

 

“IF YOU’RE REALLY STILL PLANNING ON LEAVING THEM BEHIND, I’LL TAKE THEM WITH ME.”

 

“ _ papyrus, _ ” Sans said, desperately trying to reason with him. “don’t be  _ stupid. _ ”

 

“I’M NOT! I’M TRAVELING WITH YOU SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE ON YOUR OWN, BROTHER,” Papyrus went on. “BUT IF THIS DEMON IS TOO MUCH FOR YOU, I’LL TAKE THEM. I’LL GO BACK TO DAD.”

 

“ _ don’t, _ ” Sans said, his voice stern. “‘m not leavin’ you alone with that.”   
  
“THEN WE’RE NOT LEAVING  _ THEM _ ALONE EITHER.”

 

Sans sighed, still frowning as he looked ahead. He knew how stubborn Papyrus could be. He  _ knew _ he would take that demon with him if Sans abandoned it. And there was something about it Sans adored, something he respected, because Papyrus was just  _ so _ caring,  _ so  _ sweet.

 

He just wished Papyrus wouldn’t get them both in danger with that.

  
  


The creature stared at Papyrus, watching him with its wide hollow sockets, not once entering the conversation, but listening. This skeleton was actually standing up for it? Going against his brother to not let it die? But why would this being do all this for something he knows is a killer, that doesn’t care if others die?

 

The demon stayed silent.

 

-

 

The sun was starting to set again by the time they stopped to set camp. Sans and Papyrus both tied the horses to a tree. Sans also used his magic to add a chain from Death’s chained hands, attaching it to the tree as well, leaving little room for the demon to move.

 

They set up a small campfire, Papyrus and Sans both eating on the bread they got from the village, while Sans was studying his map to figure out where to go.

 

“the next town ‘s some days travel away,” Sans muttered out loud. “but ‘s a big one.” He paused for a moment, looking at his brother, before he looked at the demon. “there’s no way we can show up with  _ that _ thing, though.”   
  
“WHY NOT? WE CAN DISGUISE THEM AS A NORMAL MONSTER,” Papyrus tried, but Sans didn’t even consider it as an option. “WE CAN HIDE THEM IF YOU ABSOLUTELY WANT TO.”

 

“...we’ll see,” Sans sighed, before finishing up his food, putting the rest back into the bed. “are you almost done? we should get some sleep before we continue.”   
  
“ARE YOU NOT GOING TO FEED THE DEMON???” 

 

“no.”   
  
“OH.” Papyrus seemed a bit taken aback at the answer, yet not surprised. 

 

There was no discussion about it before Sans already went into their small tent to sleep. Papyrus followed after not too much later, lying down next to his brother.

  
  


The demon watched the skeletons go into the tent, going to sleep for the night. While it stayed with the horses, who were staying away from it as much as possible, sensing the danger it gave off. It could finally move a little bit, but it didn’t really matter, it was bound, unable to move. 

 

It got cold at night, the wind making it worse. The creature not having much clothes at all, had to curl up from the cold, it’s hunger not helping, having last ate yesterday in the morning.

 

In summary, the creature was having a bad time. Being outside in the cold, not being in its comfy cave, no food since yesterday, having two lovely meals so close yet so far, and alone, with it’s sibling not due to even go to the cave yet.

  
  


Papyrus sneaked out of the tent an hour or two after Sans fell asleep. He made sure to be quiet to wake neither his brother nor the horses to end up making noise and wake his brother.

 

Papyrus couldn’t stand thinking of the demon alone outside, not having gotten any food or water. He grabbed the rest of earlier bread out of the bag, as well as his pouch of water. 

 

It was hard seeing in the dark, but he could see the demon curled up on the ground shaking. He kept his voice low.

 

“Hello demon monster,” he almost whispered out. “I have food and water for you.”

  
  


The creature curled away from Papyrus once he noticed his approach, hissing at him through the muzzle. It’s legs being used as a barrier to protect itself from Papyrus and any attack he might conflict, since it’s hands were bounded and were over it’s head, it left a pretty big opening.

 

The feeling of helplessness and longing for it’s sibling even stronger now that it was being given the attention of someone in this state.

  
  


Papyrus knelt down carefully on the ground so he wasn’t towering above him anymore, more equal to the demons current height.

 

“I can take off your muzzle,” he suggested carefully, “and feed you. But you have to cooperate and be quiet, if my brother wakes up he’s not going to let me help you.”

 

He scooted the tiniest bit closer, still keeping a respectful distant from the demon. “...Do you accept?”

  
  


The demon hid it’s face, curling up even more away from Papyrus and it’s advances, growling lowly as a warning for the bigger skeleton to keep his distance. Like hell it will just trust this monster off the bat just because it was in a tight spot, it wasn’t going to fall to a sense of false security with this creature. Their companion chained and carried it like a bag of potatoes, it were  _ not  _ going to be a pitiful thing groveling at the ground this tall skeleton walked on.

  
  


Papyrus made a small, desperate noise as the demon simply growled at him, not considering his offer at all. It made sense, though. They had captured and bound the demon, there was no way they should trust them.

 

But… they had to eat  _ something. _

 

“Can you look at me, demon monster person?” Papyrus asked a bit helplessly. “Here, look!” Before he took a bite off the bread, a mouthful of the water. “It’s safe! The same food and water that me and my brother eat and drink.”

  
  


The demon only stared at him when he took a bite of the bread, then drank some water. It sniffed at him, not getting closer by a single inch, but at least Papyrus grabbed it’s attention.

  
  


Papyrus smiled at him brightly, feeling relieved when the demon finally seemed to consider. “Please, demon person, at least have some of the water?” He asked a little hopeful. “It cannot be healthy going without water for such a long time!”

 

He moved closer the tiniest bit, slowly holding the pouch out for them to examine if they wanted to.

  
  


The demon sniffed at the opening of the pouch, smelling what was inside, smelling no harmful ingredients and only the faint smell of water, it moved closer, but the muzzle stopped it from getting it’s mouth closer. It seemed to remember it had a muzzle, and the situation it was in, and backed away just as fast, growling at Papyrus like he tried to deceive it.

  
  


Papyrus look saddened a bit as he watched the demon back away. “...Well, I’m not going to make you have any,” he said, keeping his tone light and friendly, slowly backing off, before getting up and placing the food and water into his bag again. He went into the tent seemingly to sleep, but came back out only seconds later, a shabby old blankets in his arms.

 

“At least take this,” he said quietly, carefully placing the blanket onto the ground as far away from the demon as he could, while still making sure it was in reach. He knew the demon had very little room to move, but he also knew they were still able to help themselves some, seeing as they had easily knocked down Sans earlier. He was confident they could do  _ something _ with the blanket.

 

“Goodnight, demon monster person!” Papyrus chirped, before finally disappearing into the tent for the night.

 

-

 

The next morning, the demon saw the tall skeleton leave the tent first, having spent the night awake due to the cold and hunger, it was awake when the skeleton left the tent. The blanket it was given before was everywhere, shredded by the claws of his feet, not being able to use it’s hands and mouth. It used it’s tail to keep it in place, while it’s feet dug into it and ripped it every way it could, until there was no big chunks left, only small pieces of it surrounding the demon, a few flying a few feet from the wind.

  
  


Papyrus yelped when he saw what was left over from the blanket. Oh, oh no. If Sans saw, he’d not only know he secretly helped the demon, he’d also be  _ so mad, _ using this as a point to convince him the demon was bad for them. He quickly rushed up to them, not  _ wanting _ to, but temporarily ignoring the fact how scared and defensive they must still be, in order to quickly gather the shreds of the blanket up.

  
  


The demon snarled as Papyrus got closer, guessing they would hit it for destroying something of theirs. It’s tail whipping around between Papyrus and itself as a defence mechanism in case the taller skeleton got close. If it had hairs, it would be all up as it glowered Papyrus down like a predator would to another.

  
  


“PLEASE,” Papyrus said a bit helplessly, trying to avoid the tail from hitting his ankles. “I JUST WANT TO-”

 

“ _ papyrus!? _ ” Sans’ voice was a bit husky, having just woken up, but still strong and shocked enough for Papyrus to look up at him, eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights.

 

“BROTHER, I-”

 

“ _ what _ is going on!?” Sans interrupted him. He marched up to Papyrus faster than he could quite react, roughly dragging him away from the demon. “stay away from that  _ thing. _ ”

 

“THEY ARE NOT A ‘THING,’ BROTHER, THEY’RE A PERSON!” Papyrus argued unhappily. “AND THEY WERE VERY COLD LAST NIGHT, SO I OFFERED THEM A BLANKET.”

 

“you did  _ what? _ ” Sans was holding onto Papyrus arms, grip tight, glaring up like he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. He  _ couldn’t. _

 

“papyrus, it tore it to  _ pieces! _ you wanna risk your life only for the demon to  _ destroy _ your help!?” Sans almost  _ screamed  _ at Papyrus, terrified and outraged at what had happened. “it’s a  _ demon! _ it’s not gonna accept your kindness!”

 

“THEY’RE SCARED AND ANGRY, SANS! DO NOT PRETEND LIKE YOU WOULDN’T BE IF SOMEONE CAME TO KILL YOU, ONLY TO END UP SHACKLING YOU AND KEEPING YOU PRISONER!” Papyrus wasn’t a lot better off than Sans was. He just couldn’t understand how his brother could be so  _ cold  _ to a living, breathing  _ person. _

 

“no. i wouldn’t, ‘cause i’m a damn  _ person. _ ” Sans let go of Papyrus arms, not looking at his brother anymore. He moved over to his bag, making sure he had everything, before putting it on and going to unchain the demon from the tree.

 

“go pack your stuff. we have to keep going.” 

  
  


The demon hissed and tried to swipe at Sans with its tail and feet, missing with it’s feet due to the angle, but managing to wrap it’s tail around one of Sans feet, pulling it to slam into his other leg and falling face first. The demon let out a demonic laugh, watching him with it’s piercing dead sockets.

  
  


Sans screamed when he fell onto the dirt, pushing himself up again as quick as he could, taking a few steps away from the demon. Damn that fucker’s tail. He wished he had an axe, or some sort of blade to just chop it off completely.

 

Sans cringed at the thought. Okay… so maybe he didn’t wish that after all. But that tail was going to be a lot of trouble to him, wasn’t it.

 

He let the demon lie on the ground as he carefully moved the horses farther away from it, before grabbing another green vial, opening it to pour the potion over the struggling demon.

  
  


The demon whined as the liquid was poured onto it, struggling and whipping it’s body around to avoid the fumes and the liquid, not breathing in and looking away, but it didn’t help much. It still felt it’s body slipping from it, unable to move it after a few moments, once it was unable to move at all besides a few twitches, it made noises like it was grumbling, annoyed with Sans and his actions.

  
  


Papyrus watched it happen uncomfortably, already having packed his bag. He wished he could ask Sans if he really had to do this, if they couldn’t do it any other way. But he knew they couldn’t, he knew that if they wouldn’t paralyze the demon, it’d just make it impossible to travel with them.

 

“IT’S FOR THE BEST…” He muttered to the demon, praying that there was at least a bit of truth to that. 

 

Sans picked it up once he noticed it stopped flailing, placing it on the horse’s back with the demon’s stomach down. He got onto it himself, waiting for Papyrus before he gave his brother a nod and they kept going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dont forget to check out our [discord](https://discord.gg/qRRxn6g)!


	3. i asked for a horse, not a rabbit dammit!

The demon was pretty tame during the day, mostly trying to hide from the sun as much as it could, it’s face always turned away from where the sun was, and if it was unavoidable, it will just hiss repeatedly at the sun like it took the last loaf of bread.

 

The next night wasn’t that eventful, Papyrus tried once again to give the demon some food, ending with lots of hissing and growling. The second night wasn’t much better, this time only turning away from Papyrus like he was something boring and not worth paying attention to.

 

The third night, the demon was so thirsty and so hungry, haven’t eaten or drank in days. Becoming so weak that Sans didn’t even need to use any more of the green vial on it. This time, the demon leaned in when Papyrus offered the pouch, whining softly.

  
  


Papyrus eyes widened surprised when the demon actually leaned in, not having  _ expected _ it, but being so, so glad they finally seemed to accept his offer. Watching the demon grow this weak had been stressful on Papyrus, had made him worry all the more, especially when they wouldn’t accept any food or water.

 

“I’m going to take off the muzzle,” Papyrus said carefully, already moving his arms behind the demon to undo the straps, slowing a bit when he saw the demon flinch, whispering a small apology but keeping going. “...I will have to put it back on again later, so Sans doesn’t notice anything.”

 

Once the muzzle was off, Papyrus gently moved the mouthpiece of the pouch to the demon’s face, careful as he was half expecting them to bite.

  
  


The demon was too desperate for water to make a move, not wanting it’s only chance to drink to be taken away when it was so close. If it bites now, it might not get another chance later, the taller skeleton might be too scared to even get close again.

 

It opened it’s mouth as the mouthpiece touched it’s teeth, letting the liquid slip past and down to be converted to at least a little magic. It whined softly, leaning as close as it could, watching Papyrus with half lidded sockets. 

 

It could never understand why this creature was helping it so much. Every night when the smaller one went to sleep, almost like the taller one was trying to hide it’s attempts… No, it noticed the first time Papyrus helped it that the smaller got mad at him for helping. But even after being yelled at, the skeleton still helped it, even if it refused every time.

  
  


Papyrus watched the demon drink with a bright, soft smile. He couldn’t imagine just  _ how badly _ they needed this water right now, but he  _ could _ imagine how relieved he was himself that the demon was finally taking it.

 

He only pulled the pouch back again when he felt like the demon had drank enough, gently placing it down to pick up the piece of bread instead, offering it to the demon.

 

“Would you… eat something as well?”

  
  


The demon sniffed at the bread, determining if it was edible or not, before turning it’s nose at the food, backing away from the bread and Papyrus. Water was fine, it drank that. But it needed meat, not some fluffy thing that smelled familiar, yet so long ago, like a far distant memory it couldn’t remember, but all it could remember was that it hated it, hated bread, hated that fluffy smell.

  
  


Papyrus placed the bread down again with a sigh, but he had expected as much. He carefully picked up the muzzle as he figured they were done, already giving the demon an apologetic look.

  
  


But the demon growled, already covering it’s face, the tail whipping around as a threat if Papyrus got closer, back turned to Papyrus.

  
  


Papyrus gasped when the demon suddenly began whipping their tail, but managed to keep his voice down. “Please,” he pleaded quietly. “My brother is going to put it back on in the morning either way. This is the easiest way!”

  
  


The demon looked at him with challenge in it’s sockets, ready for a fight if needed. Looking into that desperate look of the young skeleton that looked so much like it’s dear sib-.......

 

It doesn’t want this one to get in trouble.

 

The demon reluctantly let it’s head be shown, glaring at the muzzle, not looking at Papyrus’ face at all as it let the muzzle be placed back on.

  
  


Papyrus sighed relieved when the demon showed their head, letting him put on the muzzle again. “Thank you!” He said genuinely, almost having to fight the urge to give them a hug to show his gratitude. He strapped the muzzle on carefully, making sure it sat tight enough to not fall off, but not too tight to be uncomfortable, before moving away from the demon again.

  
“Thank you for letting me help you,” he said again, smiling at them softly, before letting out a small yawn. This had ended up taking longer than usually. 

 

“Goodnight, demon person,” Papyrus said finally, before getting back into the tent, snuggling close to his brother as he tried to still catch a bit of sleep.

 

-

 

Day was still uneventful, besides Papyrus and Sans getting lost once and the usual stops, they never really interacted with the demon.

 

Only when night fell, the demon eyed the tent for the taller one to come out, when he did the demon squirmed in it’s bounds, trying to reach the skeleton.

  
  


Papyrus smiled softly, sympathetically, as he saw the demon trying to reach him. He didn’t waste too much time before getting to them, already sitting down close enough to touch them.

 

“Do you want water again?” He asked carefully, before making a wrong move. “Shall I take off the muzzle?”

  
  


The demon let it’s head be reachable, still eyeing Papyrus’ hands warily, but allowing the skeleton to do as they please.

  
  


Papyrus took that as a yes, carefully taking off the muzzle, before holding the pouche’s mouthpiece towards the demon, letting them drink. 

 

“You know, I’m glad to see you come around a little,” Papyrus began talking quietly, carefully as he held the pouch for the demon to drink. “I understand why you would be wary, angry. Aggressive. But it’s just not fun seeing you grow weaker from the lack of food or water.”

 

He waited until the demon was done, before gently pulling the pouch back again, holding up a piece of bread in an offer he  _ knew _ they weren’t going to accept.

 

“I just wish you would  _ eat _ something…”

  
  


The demon turned it’s nose at the bread the second it came close to it’s face, scolding at the offending bread. Already backing away from Papyrus and hissing at the hand that held the food.

 

That smell, the way it looked, it could almost taste it on it’s mouth, it was so familiar, yet so far away. For some reason it hated this, just like the cheese, and any other food that wasn’t meat.

 

It wants meat. It wants meat so bad. It almost whined at the distant memory of the sweet and beautiful taste of meat.

  
  


Papyrus sighed as he took the bread to himself again, already picking up the muzzle to carefully put it onto Death again.

 

“I don’t understand…” He muttered, disappointed but not surprised. “You’re going to end up starving if you don’t eat something. Isn’t there any way I could make you eat…?”

  
  


The creature whined, having heard the question and trying to tell this monster without speaking. In fact it could, it turned to look at the horses resting not too far, almost whining as it struggled to get closer, it’s jaws opening and closing as if it was trying to take a bite.

 

Meat.

 

Want meat.

  
  


Papyrus watched the demon curiously, trying to figure out what they were trying to tell them. Did they want to keep going? Want them to ride away on the horses?   
  
But then he noticed the way they took bites off the air, still leaning towards the horses.

 

Oh.

 

_ Oh. _

 

Well, this would certainly make things more complicated.

 

-

 

Papyrus left earlier the next night. Almost as soon as his brother had fallen asleep did he get out of the tent to disappear into the meadows, hoping to still catch some of the twilight light.

 

They didn’t carry any meat with them, they rarely did. It went bad too quickly, and was hard to eat when you didn’t know if you’d have a fire source to cook it on every day. If they got meat, they’d usually eat it right away.

 

Neither were either of them hunters. They didn’t even have  _ weapons, _ the closest Papyrus had was an old knife. But he  _ hated _ killing. He knew it didn’t make sense to eat meat but refuse to kill the animals he’d eat either way, but the sight of it, the act of it just pained him.

 

But something else that Papyrus knew now, was that the demon  _ needed _ it. And it made sense. They weren’t just a monster like he was, their diet could be, and apparently was, completely different. 

 

It took him a while to not just find, but also catch any animals. But Sans wasn’t the only sorcerer in their family, and he swiftly managed to catch a rabbit in with blue magic, making it slow it’s movements enough for him to be able to pick it up.

 

He managed to get back to their camp before the sun was completely down, already making his way to the demon. He tried to look as friendly as he did usually, but there was something about feeding a live rabbit to them, that just made it really hard for him.

  
  


The moment the demon smelled something delicious, soon seeing the tall one come back with a rabbit, the demon clawed and wringed under the chains, tail swinging around fast with it’s sockets never leaving the rabbit.  The gruffing sounds it made and hard breathing letting Papyrus know how excited it was to finally be given food.

  
  


Papyrus startled a bit when he suddenly saw the demon react that way, but eventually sighed and smiled at him. “I… I couldn’t get a lot,” he said a bit apologetically. The demon had pointed at a  _ horse _ and Papyrus came back with a  _ rabbit. _

 

He placed the animal down, trusting it wouldn’t run away as it was both paralyzed in fear and still weighed down by his magic. He undid the demon’s muzzle, putting it down, before finally picking up and holding the rabbit towards them, already glancing away in hope he wouldn’t have to see what he knew was going to happen.

  
  


The demon wasted no time, already grabbing one half of the rabbit and gulping it down half way, only locking it’s jaws down halfway, letting the other half fall as it devoured the first half, then going after the second half, gulping it down quick. It sniffed at Papyrus, looking around him for more, until letting out a whine when it didn’t see anymore. It at least recognized the drinking pouch and tried to grab onto it with it’s tail and feet, looking at Papyrus every once in a while to see if he got the hint.

  
  


Papyrus had to fight the urge to heave as he tried to rub off the blood on his palms on the grass. At least he hasn’t gotten any on his clothes, that would be tough to explain to Sans. He  _ did _ get the hint, though, and was already picking up the pouch to hold it towards the demon, letting them drink.

 

“Are you feeling a little better?” He asked once he pulled the pouch away again, smiling at the demon softly. 

  
  


The demon chirped at Papyrus, already laying down as much it can while it purred softly, the tail loosely around Papyrus’ leg, barely holding onto him, but still made contact, letting Papyrus move away if he wished.

  
  


Papyrus let out a small noise close to a squeal when he watched the reaction,  _ really _ having to fight the urge to hug them now. He wished he could just set the demon free, or could let them have more freedom, but Sans would be so furious.  _ And _ worried. He could tell how much carrying a  _ bound _ demon around stressed him out, he didn’t want to imagine how stressed his brother would be if the demon he was fearing would  _ kill _ them was suddenly loose.

 

Papyrus really hated ruining the moment, but he had to pick the muzzle up again, carefully putting it onto the demon again. “I hope you’ll manage to sleep a bit tonight, demon monster person,” he said, keeping his voice quieter as he carefully left the demon alone to get back to his tent.

 

-

 

The next night, the last night they will be spending outside until they reach the town Sans was talking about, the demon eagerly ate the two frogs Papyrus managed to get it, drinking the water freely. Only when the demon laid back on the floor, watching Papyrus lazily, with it’s tail wrapped around the skeleton’s leg loosely, purring softly, did it relax in Papyrus’ presence. 

  
  


Papyrus let out a small squeak, relaxing next to the content demon, a hand gently stroking over the tail on his leg, barely touching it. He had the muzzle next to them, but he didn’t want to ruin this just yet. The demon deserved a break, they deserved to relax a little without Papyrus having to remind them of the muzzle.

 

“I’m glad you’re finally feeling better, demon monster person!” Papyrus chirped quietly but happily.

  
  


The demon gave a small noise of complaint, like it was huffing at Papyrus for some unknown reason, before letting it’s tail unwrap around Papyrus’ leg. It went to it’s chest, the tip of the tail tapping at it’s sternum softly. 

 

“death…” It said quietly, it’s hands were tied, so it couldn’t point to itself without it’s tail. It had to reluctantly unwrap it’s tail around Papyrus to be able to point at itself. It watched Papyrus’ reaction, waiting for his reaction to it speaking. It’s voice low and demonic, distorted in a way, clearly male.

  
  


Papyrus eyes widened excitedly as he heard the demon talk, not having expected they - or he? - actually  _ could. _ “You can talk!” He cheered out, almost too loud for his liking. He quickly lowered his voice again, but still was grinning at the demon excitedly. “You can talk!!! Oh! Oh, wowie!!! Death-?”

 

He let the word process for a moment. A small, concerned moment, where he thought the demon was trying to tell him he was dying, but it wouldn’t’ve made sense the way he said it. Until it finally clicked and Papyrus grinned at him again.

 

“Oh! Is that your name???”

  
  


Death hummed softly at the reply, confirming to Papyrus that he was indeed correct, Death was his name. But Death did nod at him to give a better response, the tail lazily going around Papyrus’ leg now that it served it’s purpose. The claws at his feet digging into the ground aimlessly, more like the demon was drawing a picture for no reason other than to entertain themselves. 

  
  


Papyrus watched the demon claw on the ground, relaxed and humming contently. “That’s a very cool name! It sounds powerful.” He was leaning against the tree Death was chained at, enjoying the peacefulness of the night.

 

It wasn’t until Papyrus saw some movement from the tent that he gasped, back suddenly straightening. No,  _ no! _ Was Sans awake? Did he see them? Was he angry?   
  
But nothing followed up the movement, there was no noise, no one came out of the tent. For a bit Papyrus thought maybe it had been a trick of his eyes. Maybe it was. But he couldn’t risk it.

 

He picked the muzzle up again, placing it around Death. “I’m sorry I still have to do this,” he apologized sadly, before going back to the tent. “Goodnight, Death.”


	4. spider monkey? spider skeleton? why the fuck is he on the wall!?!?

They arrived at the town the next day. It was much bigger than the village before, countless of buildings covering the area, a large church tower being visible in midst of them. But they didn’t go into the town. They stayed farther off, as if they were moving past it, looking for a place to hide the demon.

 

Until they found a cave.

 

_ A cave! _ An uninhabited cave that was dry, didn’t go endlessly deep into the mountain to disguise hidden dangers, but deep enough to disguise  _ them _ and provide shelter of wind and weather. Like some kind of den. Or a gift of the gods.

 

They left the horses tied on a tree a bit farther from the cave to not attract attention to it, before making their way inside. It was dark, too dark for them to see, hadn’t Papyrus lighted the way with his magic and Sans with one of his potions. They should probably get lanterns in town once they could go there.

 

But for now they made their camp inside the cave. Sans chained the demon to the cave wall the way he had during their trip every night, only for Papyrus to beg him to let it rest in a more comfortable position. Sans didn’t  _ want _ to, but there was enough room in the cave to give the demon  _ some _ movement space and still stay out of danger range of it. So he removed the chain on the demon’s wrists from the wall again, instead using his spell to summon another shackle, around the throat like a collar, connecting  _ this _ chain to the wall, giving Death enough space to lie down properly and move one, two steps maybe.

 

It wasn’t a lot, but… it was something.

 

As soon as they had secured the demon and left what they didn’t need with them on hand in the cave, they left to go to town. Sans stood in front of the cave, frowning at the entrance as he slammed the butt of his staff onto the ground before it, several, large black spikes growing out of the ground and blocking up the mouth of the cave. 

 

He was panting by the time the spikes stopped growing, beads of sweat collecting on his brow. He nodded to Papyrus before they both got their horses and decided to go into town.

  
  


Death was so glad he could be in a cave again, the familiar and peaceful way of having a quiet and stable place to rest without looking every which way for any dangers was a huge relief off his shoulders. He would have to watch the cave entrance, but now it was blocked off by spikes. It was great he didn’t have to worry on being attacked, but bothersome when he breaks out of here. 

 

The demon went to the spot the chain was tied to in the wall, pulling and scratching at the spot, to loosen the chain from the wall so he could pull free. It didn’t really work, all he did was make all these slash marks on the cave walls, the grooves deep and smooth, like it was no trouble for the demon to slash through the cave wall, no resistance. But this didn’t matter to him, all he wanted was to get out, his brother will be coming to his old cave soon, and once he gets that scent of the sorcerer, it will be a speedy trip. 

 

For now all Death can do was wait and try to stay alive, alive until his brother will come and rescue him.

 

Right now he did what he can do now, claw at the stone and break away anything he could, he ended up digging his hands and feet to the wall, above where the chain met stone and just… stayed on the wall, tail poking at the chain while he was on the wall like a bug until the two skeletons came back.

  
  


They had only stayed in town for an hour or two maybe, though getting there and back from the cave took at least an hour itself. But it was already late, so Sans and Papyrus didn’t do much but get some necessities and see if there were any obvious dangers there.

 

It seemed safe enough.

 

Sans let two of the spikes at the entrance disappear, leaving an opening big enough for them to get through. They started a fire as soon as they got in, lighting the cave enough to properly see the demon hanging on the wall. Papyrus blinked surprised.

 

“ARE… ARE YOU ALRIGHT???”

  
  


The demon didn’t look at Papyrus, only glared at Sans while letting out a deep growl. His claws sank deeper in the stone, the chain being pulled every few seconds as he tried to get away and put more distance from both of them.

  
  


“sheesh,” Sans huffed out, but didn’t pay the demon any attention otherwise. The chain  _ should _ be fixed firmly enough onto the wall for the demon to not be able to escape, though maybe Sans should still put it’s shackles tighter together. He wasn’t liking the whole climbing thing.

 

But for now they had to eat.

 

They had gotten meats at the market. Jerky for when they would continue their travels, but also raw meats to cook on their fire.

  
  


Death whined, smelling the meat and crawling down from the wall, his claws trying to reach the meat, digging into the ground like it can pull him up to the meat. His tail hit everything it could, not caring where it went or what it hit, his attention was on the meat.

  
  


Papyrus threw Death an apologetic look, already planning to save some of his meat for later. Sans finished eating first, he took one of the leftover pieces of meat, before motioning Papyrus to stand back.

 

“WHAT… WHAT ARE YOU DOING???” Papyrus asked confused as Sans approached the demon warily, the staff in front of him to block off attacks.

 

“what’s it look like?” Sans asked, his voice a bit distant. “i’m trying to feed it.” He waited for a moment to let the words sink in, Papyrus watching him surprised and shocked, until Sans went on. “you would’ve tonight anyway, wouldn’t you?”

 

Papyrus sank back with wide eyes, not responding.

 

“now be a good demon and stay still, so i can take off the muzzle.”

  
  


The demon backed away the moment Sans got close, growling at him like he was about to pounce, tail raised high like a scorpion ready to sting. His front legs were bent down until his face was almost touching the ground, and hind legs more up, butt in the air and almost wiggling.

  
  


“fuckin-”   
  
“PLEASE!!!” Papyrus interrupted them, trying to run between his demon friend and his brother, but Sans made sure he stayed behind him. Papyrus still looked past Sans to Death. “PLEASE DON’T ATTACK HIM! I KNOW YOU’RE SCARED AND YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO, BUT SANS IS ONLY PLANNING TO FEED YOU. I PROMISE YOU I WILL MAKE SURE HE DOESN’T HURT YOU, DEATH!!!”

 

Sans heard Papyrus call him by a name, and a part of him wanted to snap. Wanted to get angry. Angry at his brother for befriending a  _ demon _ , for getting himself into that kind of danger to help a creature that wanted nothing but to  _ kill. _

 

But he kept quiet, waiting for some kind of reaction of the demon.

  
  


Death shook his head, pointing at Sans with his tail. “bad!” then pointed at Papyrus, “good.” He leaned more towards Papyrus, trying to get to him and whine softly, not seeming hostile or aggressive at all to the taller monster, but reserved all the aggression with the smaller one.

  
  


“I KNOW MY BROTHER ISN’T GOOD-”

 

“‘m  _ tryin’ _ to  _ protect  _ us,” Sans grumbled under his breath, miffed.

 

“-BUT HE’S SCARED, TOO, LIKE YOU ARE. HOW HE TREATS YOU ISN’T OKAY, BUT HE THINKS HE IS DOING THE RIGHT THING.”

 

Papyrus took a hold of the meat Sans was holding, trying to go up to Death to feed him, but Sans was already blocking his way. “SANS, PLEASE!!! JUST MAKE IT EASIER ON EVERYONE.”

 

“‘m not risking gettin’ you mauled by a demon.” Sans said sternly, before warily getting a little closer to Death.

  
  


Only for the demon to back away again, his hind legs going up the wall and digging his claws into the stone. The tail over Death’s head, ready to swipe if Sans got closer, while his front legs stayed at the ground, his spine arching now that his feet were on the wall and front on the ground. He snarled at the skeleton getting near him, switching his view from Sans to the meat in his hands.

  
  


Sans grit his teeth at the demons behavior. It had acted so tame around Papyrus, he had hoped it would at least cooperate a  _ bit _ once it would be about feeding him.    
  
“come on,” he uttered out frustratedly. “get down here and behave, before i have to paralyze you to feed you.”   
  
“SANS, DON’T  _ THREATEN _ HIM!?”

 

“well, what am i supposed to do!? sing it a song until it falls asleep!?”

 

“MAYBE!” Papyrus huffed back. “YOU’RE JUST NOT GOING TO MAKE THINGS BETTER BY BEING  _ MORE _ HOSTILE!”

  
  


Death moved as close as he could to Papyrus, looking at him like he is asking for help, looking between the skeletons to tell Papyrus to do something, anything to make this smaller skeleton back off. Glowering at Sans every time he made a sudden move.

  
  


Papyrus was crossing his arms as he watched Death and his brother conflicted. He wanted to help Death,  _ had _ to help Death. But he also didn’t want to so boldly disobey his brother, when he  _ knew _ Sans was only trying to protect him, even if he was harming someone else trying to do so, which wasn’t okay…

 

“WHAT IF I… JUST TAKE OFF THE MUZZLE.”

 

“ _ papyrus, _ ” Sans warned, as if he didn’t want his brother to even continue that thought.

 

“AND I’LL GET AWAY AS SOON AS IT’S OFF.” Papyrus concluded anyway. “I WON’T FEED HIM OR STAY CLOSE. I’LL JUST TAKE OFF THE MUZZLE, YOU LEAVE THE MEAT HERE. DEATH CAN EAT BY HIMSELF.”

 

Sans didn’t like the idea. He didn’t like using his brother to get the demon to eat. He didn’t like letting his brother get close to him.

 

“YOU SAID YOURSELF THAT I WOULD JUST FEED HIM TONIGHT, AND I  _ WILL _ IF WE CAN’T SOLVE THIS PEACEFULLY.”

 

Sans sighed. He dropped the meat on the ground in Death’s range, before stepping back and motioning at Papyrus.

 

Papyrus gasped, surprised but relieved, quickly rushing over to Death.

  
  


The moment Death saw Papyrus go near him, he put his head down, letting Papyrus reach behind his head and unclamp the muzzle, and went to the meat as soon as he could, tearing into it and gulping it down. He stared at Sans as he did it, like he expected Sans to take it away or try to make it disappear. His arms were around the meat like he was protecting it until it was all gone, after he finished he went as close to Papyrus as he could, panting and looking at the pouch Papyrus always let him drink from.

  
  


Sans glanced at the pouch like it offended him. 

 

“CAN I-”

 

“no,” Sans replied without hesitation. He went to his bag to dig out a small wooden bowl, filling it with water. He placed it on the ground, before giving it a push to let it slide closer to Death.

  
“YOU’RE TREATING HIM LIKE AN ANIMAL,” Papyrus grumbled miffed, but Sans didn’t answer.

  
  


But Death took the bowl without much complaint, holding it in one hand and putting it to his mouth while he gulped it down, sitting down on the ground as he glared at Sans, flipping Sans the bird while he was at it.

  
  


Sans frowned, while Papyrus just sighed a little. Papyrus slowly, carefully went back to Death to get the bowl from him and put the muzzle back on. He knew he shouldn’t do it, both because Sans was watching and also because he didn’t have the time to ask for Death’s consent, but he couldn’t help himself but to give the demon the briefest, lightest side hug. “I’m sorry you have to go through this,” he whispered, before stepping away again, heading to Sans to give him back the bowl.

  
  


Death stayed still when he was suddenly given a hug, at first not knowing what it was, until he placed it in the same category as cuddling beside his own brother to show affection. Death laid down, he was still hungry, and always will be, but at least it was bearable again, and that’s all that mattered now.

 

-

 

The next day he watched the two skeletons leave again, watching them come back later. He watched Papyrus play with a wooden toy he got at the town nearby, and Sans make more potions of many different colors. They didn’t interact with him much, besides Papyrus giving him looks sometimes.

 

Being kidnapped was boring…

 

Death could be sneaking into the village he was before and attacking villagers for fun, but nope, he had to sit here and wait for lunch. It should be lunch some time now, good, he was hungry.

  
  


“CAN I TAKE THE MUZZLE OFF???” Papyrus asked, as soon as he watched Sans getting their meat to prepare it for lunch. He didn’t want Death to have to watch them again before getting something himself. But Sans shook his head no.

 

He took a well sized piece of meat, before stepping into Death’s zone with the staff in one hand. “are you ready to cooperate this time?” He asked warily. “i’m not letting papyrus help you every single time.”

  
  


Death stayed still, watching Sans with piercing sockets, he growled lowly as Sans got closer, but stayed still as a statue, on his hands and legs, tail curled under his feet. He didn’t back away or move forward, you couldn’t even see his eyes stare into Sans.

  
  


“good,” Sans said quietly. “stay like that.” He walked up to Death carefully, anxiously, until he finally reached the demon. He dropped the meat before him, moving his hand to quickly undo the muzzle.

  
  


The moment Death’s jaw was free and Sans was in his range, he sank his teeth down on the skeleton’s hand so fast, pulling at it like he was trying to tear it off, but for some reason, he didn’t. The thought of Papyrus came to him and he let go, grabbing the meat as quickly as he can before Sans could take it away again for biting him, and went up the wall.

  
  


Sans screamed as he suddenly got bit into the hand, his free hand reaching for his belt to get a potion, only to end up stumbling back with a yelp once the demon let go. He scrambled back simultaneously as Death climbed up the wall. Sans hissed, shaking his bleeding hand while glaring up at the demon.

 

“fucking bastard,” he hissed under his breath, before getting as much distance between him and the demon as he could. Papyrus was already coming up to Sans with a worried look, reaching out with one hand to heal the wound on his brother’s hand with his magic.

 

Sans hissed in pain when the magic seeped into his wound, quickly drawing his hand back again, before giving Papyrus an apologetic look. “don’ think that’ll work, bro,” he uttered out quietly. “sorry.”   
  


Papyrus pulled his hand back confused, holding it close to his chest. “ARE YOU GOING TO BE OKAY???” He asked concerned. Sans shrugged as he slowly scooched over to his bag.

 

“gotta,” he said, pulling out a rag to dip it in water, cleaning the wound a bit. “i’ll get bandages in town tomorrow. ‘s gonna be fine, paps.”

 

Sans made a point to ignore Death for the rest of the day, not getting close to him, looking at him or talking to or about him at all. Even Papyrus had been a little distant from Death. Maybe not specifically because he was angry at him, but he also didn’t want to coddle the demon who had just hurt his brother.

 

They spent the rest of the day like this, finishing their own lunch and deciding to go to sleep early. Except they didn’t even sleep for a long time, if at all.

 

Only an hour later Papyrus already got up again, quietly, careful not to wake up Sans. He walked up to his bag he had taken to town with him earlier, taking out a new blanket he had bought, as well as his water pouch. 

 

He went up to Death quietly, sitting down at the wall, unfolding the blanket to put it over himself and looking towards Death expectantly, not saying a word.

  
  


Death watched Papyrus the moment he got up, but he let a small smile tug on his face as he moved over to Papyrus, cuddling up to his side and hiding his face in the taller’s chest. He didn’t move from his spot, after a few moments of staying there he started to purr softly, relaxing into the other body next to him.

  
  


Papyrus hummed happily as Death cuddled into him, pulling the blanket a bit more over the demon. He reached for the pouch of water, holding it up to Death’s sight a bit. “Thirsty?” He asked quietly.

 

He could see, from the corner of his eyes, that Sans was watching them. Sitting tensely where he had been sleeping before, unmoving, quietly. But he wasn’t stopping Papyrus. And Papyrus wasn’t going to stop.

  
  


Death moved his head so he was able to drink from the pouch, his claws on top of Papyrus’ chest, but thankfully not digging into or trying to hurt, more like they were there for stability. Papyrus had his back to the wall, but the demon was facing towards it, his own back facing Sans. Death was sitting right next to Papyrus, his upper body leaning to the side so he could lay on Papyrus’ chest, head turned so he was able to drink from the pouch, legs curled up on themselves with his tail curled around one of Papyrus’ legs loosely. 

  
  


Sans went rigid when he saw the demon put his claws onto Papyrus, but Papyrus seemed entirely unperturbed, simply holding the pouch for Death while he drank from it. He didn’t understand how Papyrus could be this careless around the demon. Wasn’t he scared  _ at all? _ If Death wouldn’t’ve been shackled from the beginning on they  _ both _ would be dead, Papyrus  _ had _ to know that.

 

But here he was, lying next to Death under a blanket cuddling. And he didn’t  _ want _ to stop him. Papyrus looked content and Sans could tell how much Death’s state had been worrying him this whole time. But he also just wished he would be more  _ careful. _

  
  


Death finished drinking after a few more big gulps, slumping down until his head was on Papyrus’ lap, tail let go of the other’s leg, and swinging around lazily. Laying half on the ground and half on the skeleton, Death looked up at Papyrus, and notice something dangle from his clothes. It was a string of rope that held the hood the taller was wearing, Death held his claw up to it, and poked it. He sniffed to see if it had anything dangerous or toxic, but it smelled okay, so he poked it some more, when it start to swing from side to side, Death went a little harder. Soon Death was batting at the strings, his legs curled up and feet in the air, tail moving excitedly while it kept hitting the floor as it wagged.

  
  


Papyrus squealed as he watched the demon begin playing with the string. It was adorable to watch, the clawed hands batting the string like animals paws, and Papyrus found himself cackling happily.

 

Sans watched the scene as well, body rigid, like he thought the demon was about to attack Papyrus. But he didn’t. Didn’t pounce or scratch or bite him. Simply began playing with the string and it…

 

...it was almost… adorable?   
  
Sans shook his head.

 

“put the muzzle back on,” Sans said, quietly but loud enough for them to hear. “and go back to sleep, paps.” 

 

Papyrus looked up surprised, a bit disappointed. But he nodded, before stretching to grab the muzzle, looking at Death apologetically.

  
  


Death saw that Papyrus reached over to the muzzle and panicked, jumping away from Papyrus and climbing the wall, hissing as he glared at the muzzle.

  
  


Papyrus yelped surprised when Death suddenly jumped away, looking up at him apologetically. “I’M SORRY!” He said sadly. “CAN YOU PLEASE COME DOWN AND LET ME PUT IT ON? I PROMISE I WON’T HURT YOU!”

  
  


The demon made grunting noises, shaking it’s head and curling up, making sure his face was covered and out of hand range.

  
  


“HE DOESN’T WANT TO, SANS,” Papyrus told him, looking back at Sans as he put the muzzle down again. Sans groaned, knowing he couldn’t bring Papyrus to force the muzzle on him, but also _not_ being up to getting bit again.

 

Well.

 

He figured he  _ could _ just avoid getting too close to Death.

 

“...fine, alright,” he sighed out. “c’mon, just come back and let’s sleep.”

 

Papyrus nodded. He picked up the pouch of water to place it back into his bag, looking back at the demon. “GOODNIGHT DEATH!!!” He chirped, before lying down next to Sans again.

 

He left Death the blanket in case he got cold.


	5. shut up and take my demon!

The next day, Sans and Papyrus went back to town into the market, getting more meat, jerky, some vegetables. Papyrus was mostly looking for food and other useful things they could easily bring with them, while Sans was searching through the market for someone selling bandages or any medical service. 

 

The wound on his hand hadn’t, couldn’t exactly, swell, but the bite had been deep and the wound still hurt distractingly badly. He was scared the demon had left some kind of venom or demonic  _ something _ with his bite, but… he didn’t exactly want to seek up a church for that cause.

  
  


But if Sans wasn’t going to a church, then the church will go to him. A flame monster with priest robes was eyeing him, or more specifically, his hand. He could recognize a demon bite when he saw one, and that young lad was bitten by one, it’s his job to make sure he is okay. The flame walked up to Sans, tapping his shoulder softly. “Hello young man, I noticed your hand, do you need help?”

  
  


Sans almost jumped when he felt the monster tapping his shoulder, turning around panicky, looking up at the monster with big, startled eyes. Damn it.  _ Damn it. _ He  _ had _ to jynx it, didn’t he.

 

Once Sans had a small moment to calm down and sort himself out he grabbed his staff from where he was strapped to his bag, holding it in a firm grip as if presenting it to the elemental.

 

“‘m fine,” he said curtly. “i don’t need any assistance.”

  
  


“Oh?” The flame monster looked taken back, no one has refused holy help like that, especially if they have a demon on their hands, or  _ was.  _ “That is a demon bite sorcerer, even you must know it should be checked out and cleansed.” 

  
  


“yes. well.” Sans was stammering, holding his wounded hand, both of his hands close to his chest like he was worried the monster would just grab them either way. “i have everything under control. all i  _ really _ need are some bandages to cover the wound up, so. i’ll… be going now.”

 

He stepped away from the priest, hesitantly at first, sort of expecting him to stop Sans. But he didn’t. So Sans left, now speed walking as far away from him as he could.

  
  


The flame, named Hearth, was worried that the skeleton  _ can’t  _ ask for help, maybe the demon is holding someone dear to him hostage. Well, it’s his job to protect anyone from unholy acts and sins, and he will with this demon. He decided to follow the two skeletons, watching where they were headed to a cave not that far off from the town.

  
  


Sans and Papyrus both left their horses at a tree, before walking the rest towards the cave. He used his now bandaged hand to grab his staff firmly, using his magic to let the spikes blocking the way disappear again.

 

They had finally gotten a small oil lantern to light up the cave as well as for their travels. Sans made a big circle around where Death was chained up to get to where their campfire spot was, placing his bags down and already starting a fire.

 

Papyrus on the other hand quickly walked up to the demon once he dropped his bags down, already carrying a slab of meat and a bowl of water.

  
  


Death went to Papyrus as much as he could, meet the skeleton half way and devouring the meat once close enough, grabbing the bowl next.

 

Hearth gasped at the opening of the cave, looking at Death with wide eyes and a cross in his hand. He  _ was  _ planning on finishing this beast for the skeletons, but now…. This creature looked so divine, so beautiful, so lovely on his bed. “That… demon..”

  
  


Sans got up as soon as he heard the familiar voice, dropping the meat he had just been cooking to run up to the entrance instead. Fuck,  _ fuck. _ He should’ve been more careful, no one was supposed to know about their residence! Especially not some  _ priest! _

 

He quickly grabbed his staff again, before slamming the butt of it down on the ground in front of Hearth. “i _ told  _ you i have everything under control, priest,” he practically growled up at the monster, Papyrus looking towards them a bit concerned, but not leaving his spot close to Death.

  
  


Hearth ignored Sans, mostly staring at the demon that was glaring holes into him. “You have a very nice demon there. Tell me, are you willing to sell them?” He didn’t give any further explanation, nothing to follow up on  _ why  _ a priest would want a demon.

 

Death growled at the flame, the moment that buying  _ him  _ was brought out. He was not a item, or a toy or a trophy! He was living, breathing being, and could think for himself! How dare they treat him like a piece of meat on the market, or a non sentient being.

  
  


Papyrus arms went around Death protectively. He was almost glaring up at the newcomer, if he wouldn’t be too busy watching Sans, praying,  _ begging _ to the gods that he wasn’t going to say yes.

 

But Sans… hesitated. He took a small step back as he narrowed his eyes at the priest.

 

“...why?” He asked suspiciously. “what are you planning with a  _ demon? _ ”

  
  


“What I want the demon for is none of your own concern, I am asking if you want me to take the demon off your hands or not.” Hearth never took his eyes off the demon, mesmerized by it’s features. 

  
  


“...BROTHER,” Papyrus said, warily. “PLEASE, YOU CAN’T SELL HIM!”

 

“we can’t  _ keep _ him forever,” Sans tried to argue. “we’re not always going to be able to feed him. hide him.” He couldn’t figure out the priests intentions at all. And he knew,  _ he knew _ they couldn’t be anything good if it was a  _ priest _ buying off a  _ demon _ from him.

 

But they were already losing their money so much faster than usually thanks to having to feed another, very hungry mouth. And his hand was  _ still _ hurting, he didn’t exactly… feel like going through that again…

 

He knew selling him would upset Papyrus. Would harm the demon. Wouldn’t be what a  _ good _ person would do.

 

But sometimes you have to be the bad guy to protect yourself and your family.

 

“what are you offering?” Sans asked, fixing Hearth with a hard stare.

  
  


Hearth brought out a small sack of gold, giving it to Sans without hesitation. “There is a hundred gold in there, take it and I will be on my way with the demon.” His voice was stern and hard, uncaring and emotionless. Making chills crawl up Death’s back, this person, this heartless person was going to keep him, with no mercy. Whatever they have planned for him,  _ a priest _ has planned for this demon, all he knew was every day of his life was getting worse and worse. He really wished his brother was here sooner, he doesn’t think he will survive being with this person for very long.

 

Being treated like an object on sale was a unique feeling… Like your voice doesn’t matter, a new feeling of being caged, or maybe just a reality check. When you go down to it, you were being sold without a care of what you want, never to see your home, alone and….. this feeling of hopelessness and dread. He felt this before, he doesn’t remember when or how, just that he knew this feeling, and it hurt like an old wound.

  
  


Sans opened the small sack, staring at the gold with wide eyes.  _ A hundred gold _ . That was a whole damn lot. A whole damn lot to get a demon they couldn’t keep for very long either way.

 

Sans went up to Death, Papyrus looking up at him with fear in his eyes. “we  _ needed _ to hand him off somewhere  _ somehow, _ paps,” Sans said again, but his voice was quiet and his throat felt like tied in a knot. Hands running over the potions at his belt, Papyrus knew what he was going to do, screaming out a quick, “NO!” While never letting go of Death.

 

Which just meant the green vial hit both of them, the young skeleton slowly losing control of his limbs, eyes wide in shock, until he was lying limply on the paralyzed demon.

  
  


Death gasped, watched the tall skeleton protect him, actually getting hit by the potion, and…. he felt bad..

 

This feeling he got, having to see someone protect him, only to get hit as well. No one has done this for him besides his brother… it felt nice but, also heavy.

  
  


Sans pointed his staff at where the chain met the wall, casting a quick spell to get rid of it as well as the shackle around Death’s neck. He picked up the muzzle, finally putting it on Death again, before carefully peeling off Papyrus.

 

His brother stared at him with hurt and betrayal in his eyes and it  _ hurt. _ Sans  _ hurt _ and he hated this, and he whispered out a soft, “i’m so sorry, paps,” but he  _ had  _ to do this.

 

He picked up Death, carrying the demon towards Hearth more carefully than he had ever carried this creature before. “take him and leave,” Sans demanded curtly.

  
  


Hearth nodded, giving a quick thanks before quickly leaving, just in case they change their mind and decide they don’t want to give the demon away. But no one called out for him. No one told him to stop. No one chased after him.

 

He now had the demon in his arms and he was heading home. With a new toy.

 

-

 

Sans carefully picked up his brother, holding him close, nursing him with an antidote for the potion. “...i’m sorry, papyrus,” he breathed out, barely audible.

 

“You… gave him away,” Papyrus voice was weaker, his body struggling to regain the power to move. “You  _ sold him off. _ ”   
  
“‘t was for the best…”   
  
“For  _ your _ best maybe.”

 

-

 

Hearth had to dodge a lot of people to get the church without anyone noticing. The Church had not many buildings behind it, and all Hearth had to do was go around the whole town, avoiding any travelers in roads and other camps. Before having to dodge and hide in between buildings before actually making it to the back of the church. 

 

He hid the unmoving demon with his robe, thankful that he decided not to be naked under them today, with plain brown leather stitched pants, a cream colored tunic, he walked through the back door, making sure no one heard him or was even present. Slowly and ever so quietly, to avoid his parents realizing he was even here, passing his brother’s room without a sound after he climbed up the stairs to the living quarters. He finally made it to his room.

 

Laying the demon down on his bed and removing the robe carefully. He hurriedly left his room to grab some chains and prayer beads in the cellar, reserved for when handling demons and any other unholy beings. Hurrying back to his room, he put a collar on the demon, making sure it fit snuggly, before attaching it to a leash that he tied to his bed post.

 

After that was done, he grabbed the prayer beads, wrapping a cloth around the wrists of the demon before putting the beads over them, to prevent any harm and burns to come to the demon but to weaken it to the point it won’t break free. He did the same to the feet, a cloth on the ankles of his feet and then the beads over it.

 

He left once again, this time to fetch the most heavy, and the most eye catching object. A cage.

 

It was in a few pieces for easier travel, the bars, bottom and top half of the cage were disconnected. When he got all the cage pieces to his room without alerting anyone, he got straight to work. Placing the bottom of the cage on the floor, next to his bed, next he grabbed one side of the cage bars, every bar connected from the top and the bottom with thin metal, all he had to do was place the little numbs that stuck out into the holes on each corner of the cage. He did this for each side, with one side of the bars have hinges and a door, to open and close as you please. He finished his work with the top of the cage, setting it down over the bars and locking it in place.

 

He stepped back and looked at his work, admiring it. But he didn’t stay that way for long, because his attention went to Death, slowly creeping up to him, looking up and down his body. “I am going to have lots of fun with you.”

 

His hand gliding down the demon’s leg, making Death shiver the slightest bit. “Let’s see if my cock will purify you…” He growled, jumping over the demon, his hands and knees on both sides of the panicking demon.

 

Oh lord. He was about to get raped! Not only is he taken from his vacation home, but kidnapped, starved, sold and now he is going to be treated like someone’s toy and be raped. He shouldn’t be surprised, when someone was kidnapped it was very likely you will get raped, this is just how this world worked, but oh lord how awful it felt to have that realization that it is going to happen to  _ you _ . 

  
  


Sometimes Grillby forgot to knock when he knew his brother was up to something suspicious and he was about to confront him. Usually that ended up pretty well. This was not one of those times.

 

He didn’t even get the chance to say anything, before his eyes widened at the sight of Hearth kneeling above a creature, a monster -  _ no - _ a  _ demon _ , and Grillby quickly closed the door behind him in panic.

  
“Oh fuck,” he let out quietly. “Oh  _ fuck. _ Hearth, you can  _ not _ be serious about this. Tell me I’ve got this wrong.”

  
  


“Give me a fucking minute!” Hearth screamed through the door, noises were heard as Hearth shuffled around and heard the open and close sound of metal. Hearth opened the door and dragged Grillby in. “Can’t you fucking knock?”

 

The demon was now in the cage, locked and still tied to the bed from the collar, the restraints on his arms and ankles were still there. All Hearth really did was put the demon straight into the cage, his robe already back on to hide his raging cock as much as possible.

  
  


“Remember what  _ those _ mean?” Grillby asked, tugging at Hearth’s robe with the church’s emblem on it. But the way he pulled the fabrics slightly pronounced the bulge underneath them and Grillby quickly dropped it again with a disgusted, “Eugh.”

 

“We’re  _ priests _ , Hearth. We can’t be keeping a demon, let alone… I’m not even gonna say it.”

  
  


“But-! But look how cute and beautiful it looks! It’s like, begging for me to fuck it!” Hearth complained, already backing away from his younger brother in favor of not getting his dick being more noticable. “Just turn around and walk away from this, let me just have this! It’s not going to affect you on what I fuck or keep as a toy!”

  
  


“ _ Oh _ my god,” Grillby groaned, both of his hands going up to rub his temples. “Oh god. You’re  _ actually _ planning to fuck a demon. A  _ demon! _ What  _ possessed _ you to think this was a good idea!?”

 

He didn’t wait for an answer, though. Hearth was right in the end. If he wanted to stick his dick into a demonic creature this badly, it didn’t have to affect  _ Grillby. _ It  _ did _ if the town found out, if it looked like they were keeping a demon here, they would  _ all _ be chased out of town, if their parents wouldn’t kill them first.

 

“Ugh, just… make sure  _ no one _ finds out,” Grillby groaned, before leaving Hearth’s room again, deciding to  _ never _ barge in without knocking again.

 

This was definitely something he did not have to see.

  
  


Hearth sighed when Grillby left, before closing the door behind his brother, not bothering to see if his brother would even keep this secret, he knew he would. He turned back to the demon, already taking off his robe and starting to rub his dick through his pants. “Looks like we are alone again~” 

 

A whimper escaped the demon’s mouth, not that Hearth could see the fear in his sockets, but they were there, staring from Hearth’s face to his dick back and forth. Trying desperately to squirm away from the flame when he opened the cage and crawled in, this time not even bringing him out, but turning him around and positioning him with his butt in the air, since his legs and arms were tied, Hearth couldn’t go between his legs and have his way with him. He would have to fuck him from behind, with that nice ass presented like a present.

 

Tears were almost coming into the demon’s sockets, already shaking and pleading for his brother come to his cave sooner, tracking him down sooner and getting here  _ before he is raped by a priest _ . But he knew this isn’t how life worked, but he still hoped, he still prayed to any force that this doesn’t happen, still hoping so bad as he felt his torn shorts get pushed down, exposing his pelvis to the flame.

 

Hearth pulled his pants down far enough for his dick to spring through, the tip already touching where the tail connected to the pelvis, humming as he felt the tail over his dick, the cock sliding against the bottom of the tail, almost pressing to the entrance.

  
  


Grillby knocked this time. Loud enough for Hearth to hear him through  _ whatever _ he would be doing with the demon right now, his back turned to the door. He absolutely did  _ not _ want to make the same mistake as earlier and just barge in, so he waited for his brother to react.

  
  


“Ugh, what?!” Hearth groaned, not letting go of the demon’s hips as he looked at the door, not expecting his brother to just come in when he replied, only… you know, talking through the door until he actually tells Grillby he can come in. Not giving permission when he talks dammit, that’s not how it works!!!

  
  


“Parents told me to get you,” Grillby said, before freezing in the doorway as he saw what was happening, what he should -  _ had been -  _ expecting. He quickly stepped in for  _ whatever god damn reason _ closing the door shut.

 

“ _ Jesus fuck, Hearth! _ ”

  
  


Death was a shaking mess when Grillby saw him, looking at him with big fearful sockets. His butt in the air while his torso and upper half was laying on the cage floor. Hearth was only interested in his ass, and that so happened to be the only thing Hearth held up, not even caring how uncomfortable it was to be tied from his ankles and his wrist. Tears almost peeking through the corners of the demon’s sockets, maybe just a dot of something moist there, but it was clear the demon is afraid and would rather be anywhere else.

  
  


When Grillby looked at Death, seeing him like that, in that state, position, this broken, it hurt. It hurt him. In that small moment where he spotted Death, it wasn’t just a demon he was looking at. It was a  _ person _ , a person with enough sentience to be scared, terrified about what was happening to him. And, as both a priest and a brother, he hated how badly he wanted to help that demon and punch Hearth in the face right now.

  
  


“Fucking-!” Hearth said angrily, moving out the cage and closing it, not bothering to pull the demon’s pants back up, leaving him in the same position as he put his robes on, marching to the door and his brother as he stuffed his dick in his pants, wincing as his hard dick had to be trapped once again. But at least it will go unnoticable when in his pants, the robes were really loose and free of showing the body underneath. 

 

He stared down at his brother and almost yelling at him in rage. “What do you want!?”

  
  


To punch him in the face, Grillby mused silently. To help the demon, free him, let him  _ go. _ But he knew he couldn’t do that, he couldn’t let a  _ demon _ loose, no matter how scared he looked.

 

“Ugh, to unsee all of this,” Grillby eventually muttered out, taking a small step away from his brother. “Father called us, he wanted me to get you.” 

  
  


Hearth sighed, annoyed, already fixing his appearance up to be presentable. “Okay, fine, let’s go then.” He sounded grouchy, storming out the door and dragging Grillby out to make sure his little brother didn’t get any ideas when he saw the demon presented like that.

  
  
Grillby struggled a bit when Hearth dragged him out like that, but eventually relented and just followed him. “I wasn’t going to  _ use _ them,” Grillby muttered out quietly.


	6. when a DEMON out of everyone gives EVERYONE a reality check

This time Papyrus waited before he got up again. He made sure,  _ really _ sure that Sans was asleep, sneaking out of the cave and to his horse.

 

He didn’t know  _ where _ the monster lived that had bought Death, but they were a priest, right? And there was only one church in the town that Papyrus had seen, and this is where he was heading.

 

He tied his horse farther off the church, quietly looking for an entrance he could get in from quietly, until he found one to one of the towers. It was locked, but Papyrus simply hovered his palm over the keyhole, twisting gravity with his magic enough to unlock it and sneak inside.

 

The church was large. Large and empty from any people, and sort of scary to Papyrus. It took him a while until he found the area where the priests lived, glancing over every corner to check if there was anyone to spot him. He could hear voices from one of the rooms he decided to avoid, before checking all of the others. One by one, until he finally spotted a cage.

 

A big cage, a cage that had  _ Death _ in it, shaking, with his pants pulled down to reveal his pelvis, the demon lying in a position that  _ couldn’t _ be comfortable.

 

There weren’t a lot of times Papyrus would hate someone. He liked to believe in people, liked to believe that they would do the right thing if you let them.

 

But he  _ hated _ the priest that had done this to Death.

 

Papyrus walked up to the cage quickly, trying to work his magic on the lock of it, only to find out it was magic resistant. He let out a small, desperate noise, before kneeling down onto the ground, reaching with his arms through the bars to pull Death’s pants up again, before turning him into a less uncomfortable position as carefully as he could.

 

“I’m here,” he whispered out quietly. “I’m not leaving without you.”

  
  


The demon stared up at him with wide sockets, letting out whimpers as it tried to fight against the green potion still in affect, squirming to get as close to Papyrus as much as he can. Wanting desperately to get out of here, he would rather be starved than be raped. Thank whatever was the reason that other flame came in again to stop what would have happened and spare him.

  
  


Seeing Death like this hurt Papyrus so much. He  _ had _ to get him out of this, and he had to be quick, before the priest or anyone else saw him. Quickly Papyrus got up again to undo the leash from the bedpost.

 

There was a window close, which Papyrus opened. He couldn’t simply drop the cage down that way, it was too high for that. So he held onto the bars instead, before using his magic to levitate both himself and the cage out of the window and down to the ground. And further after that, because using magic was exhausting, but he didn’t think neither him nor his horse could lift an entire metal cage.

 

He let it levitate beside him once he rode away, going as quick as he managed to in hope the priest wouldn’t see and follow him. Find him.

 

And, well. It wasn’t the priest that found him.

 

It was Sans, roughly two-thirds through his way back. Papyrus stopped the horse startled, slowly letting the cage down onto the floor as he came to an halt, watching Sans glare him down.

 

“i can not believe you right now,” he said, his voice grave. “i can’t believe how fucking  _ careless _ you can be! stealing from a  _ priest _ , papyrus!? a priest we’ve  _ just _ traded with, so we’re the  _ most _ suspicious people.”   
  
“WHAT DID YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?!” Papyrus asked, his voice as serious, but with a hint of desperation in it.

 

“to let it  _ go! _ paps, i  _ get _ you’re worried about him, and that’s…” Brave. Honorable.  _ Foolish, _ but so kind-hearted. “...but you _ can’t  _ keep getting yourself in danger for a  _ demon. _ ”   
  
“THEY WOULD HAVE RAPED HIM,” Papyrus said, and his eyes were uncharacteristically cold as they pierced through his brother. Through Sans, who’s eyes widened in shock.

 

“i… i didn’t…” He glanced down at the cage that had Death inside, the demon curled up and shaking, looking  _ terrified. _ And  _ Sans _ had let it happen. 

 

“...i’m sorry…” He croaked out, barely audible, before his hands tightened on the reins of the horse. He cursed under his breath. “go north,” he said finally. “past the city, away from the cave. i’ll get our bags and catch up with you.”   
  
Papyrus nodded, levitating the cage again, before going into the direction Sans had directed him to. They weren’t safe here no more. 

 

Sans went back to the cave, quickly undoing his magic to create the spikes. He rushed in, tossing and stuffing everything into their bags he could, before throwing them all over his shoulder, having to carry one in his hands. 

 

He caught up with Papyrus an hour later. They shared the weight of their bags, but Sans still insisted on carrying more, considering his brother had to levitate the cage beside them, while Sans was looking over his map to figure out an escape plan.

 

-

 

Hearth drags his body upstairs, already too tired to even continue the adventure he was planning to do with the demon. He walked into his room, at least wanting to see the exposed butt one last time in case it gave him a boost to actually fuck the living daylights out of the demon. Only to freeze when he saw not only the demon, but the cage  _ gone _ . He gasped, looking around and rubbing his eyes, hoping, praying that this was a dream. But after walking around where the cage once was, and seeing the extra shackles he had when he first had the demon.

 

This wasn’t a dream. His demon was on the loose.

 

Of course Hearth wasted no time, already grabbing his morning star and some restrains for when he finally catches up to the demon and running out his room and down the stairs, out the door and to the stables. On his way there he found horse tracks that wasn’t there before when he first came with the demon, so he decided to follow those.

  
  


Grillby cursed as he heard Hearth storm down the stairs. That couldn’t mean anything good. And given the fact he brought a  _ demon _ in today meant that it couldn’t mean  _ anything _ good  _ at all. _

 

He didn’t hesitate to quickly grab his hood, his swords’ scabbard, before sprinting after his damn brother. Out of the room, down the stairs and to the stables until he spotted him.

 

“Your demon is loose,” he said once he finally came to a halt. “Isn’t it?”

  
  


“Ffffffffff- hold your tongue!” Hearth commanded, leading the horses out the stables, making sure the carriage is nicely tied to the horses, he would need it to carry the demon back without anyone seeing.

  
  


“Funny coming from  _ you, _ ” Grillby huffed at his brother who managed to  _ lose _ a fucking  _ demon. _ He in no way wanted the demon to be back in Hearth’s hands, but god damn, if the thing managed to escape who  _ knew _ what damage they would do. And after seeing how  _ scared _ the demon was?   
  
Grillby wouldn’t be surprised if they were planning some sort of revenge.

 

“We better find them quick,” he said, quietly but sternly, checking if the carriage and everything was attached properly, before getting onto it.

  
  


Hearth sat at the bench in front of the carriage, holding onto the rope that guided the horses. “Go!” He commanded, making the horse go on their hind legs before breaking out into a run, making them follow the path Papyrus’ horse has made.

 

-

 

They had to take a break. Sans knew they shouldn’t, they should be putting as much distance from the town as  _ possible, _ but after several hours of levitating the cage, Papyrus had to take a break. 

 

They had their horses tied to a tree, their bags still on them. Papyrus was sitting on the ground next to the cage, quietly trying to reassure Death, tell him he was going to be fine, they were going to get him out of the cage, were going to hide from the priest. He wasn’t ever going to let something like this happen again.

 

Something like getting  _ raped. _ By a  _ priest. _ A priest  _ Sans _ had sold him to.

 

Sans wasn’t dealing with this well at all, sitting by a tree, his face hidden in his angled legs. He hadn’t known what the priest was planning with Death. He should’ve  _ pried _ more. Should’ve made sure it was something- something that was  _ somewhere _ okay, not  _ this. _ He hadn’t wanted  _ this. _ But he had let it fucking  _ happen. _

 

Sans got pulled out of his thoughts as he heard the distant noise of wheels and horses. “ _ fuck, _ ” he hissed quietly, already getting up and untying the horses. “pap, we gotta go.”   
  
“BUT-”

 

“ _ now _ , papyrus.  _ please. _ ”   
  
Papyrus nodded, no longer hesitating as both of them quickly got onto their horses. He levitated the cage again, before they both tried to escape whoever was coming towards them.

  
  


But the carriage came in hot, it swirled around in front of the two horses in record time, having much better bred and tamed horses. The flame quickly jumped out the carriage, glaring down at the two skeletons with fury. “And where do you think you’re goin? Selling this demon off only to steal him back?”

  
  


Papyrus slipped off his horse as soon as he saw the priest getting off their carriage, placing himself in front of the cage which he slowly let down onto the ground. “I’M  _ NOT _ LETTING YOU TAKE HIM BACK TO MISTREAT HIM!”

 

Sans was cursing, hissing, quickly getting his staff and the sack of gold, before getting off the horse and standing beside Papyrus. He tossed the sack towards Hearth with a hard glare, trying to not show his fear.

  
“take the money back,” he said. “the deal’s off.”

  
  


“Well I say it ain’t, you invested in this sale and you sold him off, you can’t just call it off when you fucking want! Why do you even care, it is a demon! Something that can’t feel, something that doesn’t know about compassion or anything! All it knows is to kill and eat, you both must have walked out of the path of the lords if you have forgotten that!”

 

Hearth stomped over to the skeletons, ignoring the sack of gold he just walked past.

  
  


“i’m not lettin’ you take him back,” Sans growled out, hoping the other monster didn’t see the small, scared step he took back. His hand was lying on a potion, one to hurt, and the one to kill right next to it. He couldn’t use it with the monster this close, but if he would just put some distance between them…

 

“HOW CAN YOU BE THIS CRUEL!?” Papyrus screeched out at the elemental. “DEATH IS A PERSON JUST LIKE YOU AND I ARE, YOU KNOW  _ NOTHING _ ABOUT HIM!”

 

Grillby’s brows raised by the skeleton’s words. He was following the scene warily from the carriage, ready to jump in if need to. He’s never seen those sorcerers before, and by now he wasn’t even surprised Hearth and  _ bought _ off a demon from them. 

  
What he  _ was _ surprised by was what the skeleton said. That the demon was just like  _ them. _ He talked about the demon like he was their  _ friend _ , someone they cared about and it…

 

It matched so scarily well with what Grillby had seen in Death’s frightened expression before.

  
  


“Demons are heartless, they don’t even care for anyone else’s feelings, not even their own beings! Why would it matter if I have fun with one, my parents have told me of the ways of a demon, how cruel and gruesome they are. Look at me and tell me this demon is not dangerous, how many have this one killed? I have been taught right, by the holy words of our god, that says demons are sins!” Hearth preached, his words sounding a lot like it was rehearsed, like he was trained to say these words since he was little.

 

Hearth always followed what he was told, becoming a lot of the favorite, while Grillby followed his heart more than by the book. Hearth knew his parents and the fathers won’t betray him or lie, lying was a sin, and the church would never!

  
  


“Hearth, you idiot,” Grillby uttered out as he finally got off the carriage to stand beside his older brother. “Does he  _ look _ like a being without feelings to you?” He pointed one palm at the cage which the skeletons were blocking off, but they could still see enough behind them to see the demon shaking. “Without  _ fear? _ Think, Hearth, what if our parents are  _ wrong? _ ”

  
  


Hearth stared at the demon, stared at the hollow sockets that was staring right back at him. “No… our parents won’t lie,  _ this  _ is the lie! They wouldn’t have fed us lies for our whole lives, that just can’t be!” Hearth shook his head at his brother, ignoring the two skeletons in front of him. “I was not about to rape a living, sentient person! This is a lie!” His voice almost sounded desperate, like he didn’t want to believe that he was about to ravage a thinking, feeling, person.

 

One that thought for their own, showed feelings,  _ cared! _ But the evidence was piling up, and more and more were going behind this. He saw the demon himself, and he saw fear. He looked at his brother, lost. “I wouldn’t…”

  
  


Grillby glanced at his brother, feeling bad as his world seemed to break apart around him. He took both his swords out of the scabbard, the skeletons flinching at the action, ready to react, when they watched the elemental simply place them on the ground. He walked up to the cage carefully.

 

“...May I?” He asked, but Sans cut his way off harshly.

 

“keep your holy fuckin’ hands off my demon,” he growled at the much taller monster. Grillby didn’t budge, but didn’t push either.

 

“...I just wish to see if he is alright.”   
  
“he is  _ not, _ ” Sans spat out. “and it’s  _ that _ bastard’s fault!” He pointed his staff at Hearth when he said it, dark magic already crackling on it’s tip, before Sans managed to get a hold of it again.

 

“YOU SHOULD LEAVE,” Papyrus added, his voice not aggressive, but cold. “YOU’RE NOT WELCOME HERE.”

  
  


“No….” Hearth said softly, before he straightened again. “This demon is still mine, and this time I’m going to study it, I will fucking know what was kept hidden from me!” He almost screamed, pushing past Papyrus to go near the cage. Already lifting it up his shoulders, the demon inside screeched as he was suddenly moved.

  
  


“NO!!!” Papyrus screamed, trying to get a stronger hold of the cage with his magic than the priest had with his hands. Sans was already grabbing for a potion, tossing the yellow vial at the monster just in time, before he felt the other elemental grab him from behind, not attacking him, just keeping him back as Sans was struggling and cursing loudly.

  
  


Hearth screamed when electricity coursed through his flames, whipping them around and making him lose his grip on the cage. Falling on his back, the hard ground hitting his back sent waves of pain through him. He tried to get up, but it took him a few tries before he could manage it. “I wasn’t… pla..hah.. hah.. nning to rape it, I want to know for myself that what you said is true! It is my demon now, you have no right to keep it away from me!”

  
  


“catch your  _ own _ damn demon!” Sans hissed, still in Grillby’s hold, watching from the corner of his eyes how Papyrus carefully brought the cage down to himself again. “we’re not fuckin’ leaving him a second time, y’think i’m fucking  _ stupid!? _ ”   
  
“Don’t leave him then,” Grillby said, carefully letting go of Sans enough for the skeleton to scramble out of the hold, glaring daggers at both of the flames. “Come with us. Stay with the demon while Hearth tries to study him.” He glanced at his brother almost more than at the skeletons as he made the suggestion, before slowly, carefully going up to where he had dropped his swords and placing them into his scabbard again. “That way you can keep an eye on him, while Hearth gets what he paid for.”

  
  


Hearth huffed on the ground, looking at his brother with big eyes. Grillby was always the much more mature and rational of them both, he may have skill and the approval of almost everyone, but Grillby was smart for the younger brother, always knowing how to get out of a situation and make everyone get at least something. Times like these is where he could really admire his brother for how  _ good _ he really is, how  _ good  _ he turned out.

 

“That… hah… sounds nice.” He managed to say, finally getting up when he could feel his legs.

  
  


Sans narrowed his eyes at them skeptically. “staying in a town, a  _ church _ , hiding a demon?” He summarized, trying to make them realized how  _ stupid _ the idea was. “riskin’ getting found out an’ burnt on the stake?”

 

Grillby winced when Sans brought that up,  _ knowing _ he was right. It was the very damn reason why he hadn’t wanted his brother to bring home a demon in the first place.

 

“yea, i ‘dunno ‘bout that, think i’ll rather try my luck travelin-”

  
  


“Then we come with  _ you _ !” Hearth called, “The demon  _ is _ mine, yet what you say is true, so how about we come with you!” Glancing at Papyrus taking the beads off, since they could be very harmful to it if it- he means, if  _ he  _ were touch them, it would be harmful.

  
  


Grillby looked up at his brother surprised. But then again, he shouldn’t be. Of course he’d be the one to throw away their entire life to travel with two strangers and a demon. He wasn’t going to  _ stop _ him, he was just kind of shocked at how easily Hearth had suggested it.

 

Sans still didn’t seem convinced. It would work. In  _ theory. _ It would be  _ good _ in theory, because they had many bags, a big cage and only two horses.  _ They _ had a carriage.

 

But last time Sans accepted a deal with this monster, he had almost let Death get raped. Sans crossed his arms as he stepped back to his brother. “...you decide, paps,” he said quietly.

 

Papyrus glanced at the demon once he finished taking off the beads, throwing them away carelessly. “I… DON’T KNOW…” He muttered quietly, eyes focusing back on Grillby as the elemental came up to them, squatting down so he was on height with the kneeling Papyrus.

 

“I’m going to make sure my brother will behave,” he said calmly. “You seem to know the demon better, so I trust you to tell us whenever Hearth goes too far, I’ll  _ stop _ him.”

 

“...’TOO FAR’ MIGHT BE GETTING ANYWHERE CLOSE TO DEATH,” Papyrus warned warily, Grillby nodding in reply.

 

“Then he won’t, until it’s fine.” Grillby put a hand on the cross on the chain around his neck, holding it tightly. “I swear so on the name of my lord, my church-” He paused, remembering he was going to abandon said church, before he went on. “My very soul. I will not let my brother harm him again.”

 

Papyrus considered the words, and he did so uncomfortably. He knew Death would hate this. He also knew they couldn’t keep carrying him like this in a cage. He  _ also _ knew Hearth was currently the only one able to open this cage.

 

“...FINE,” he decided reluctantly, finally getting off the ground. “WE CAN LEAVE ANYTIME WE WANT,  _ WITH  _ DEATH, THOUGH. AND YOU ARE NOT TO DO  _ ANYTHING _ TO HIM WITHOUT EITHER  _ MY _ OR DEATH’S OWN VERBAL PERMISSION. UNDERSTOOD?”

  
  


“look a’ all of chu?” The demonic voice slurred, looking at them with big mad sockets, grin so wide as it giggled at them all. “ya’ll ‘re a bunch of hypocri’es! talkin’ ‘bout my well bein’s, when ya all ‘re wha ‘s da problem!” His voice was getting higher, almost screeching. “‘ow would ya like gettin’ kidnapped,  _ starved, _ ” 

 

He looked at Sans for that, then at Hearth. “sold off ‘nd almos’ raped! bein’ treated like a toy, everyone in fron’ of ya talk ‘bout w’oo am i be’der off wit’, t’inkin’ ya ‘re fuckin’ heroes, when all i wan’ is  _ ta go back ta my bra’der!!!!” _ He screeched the last bit out, his voice going so high that it hurt one’s ears. 

 

“i am nah an objec’ ya can hav’!!!!!”

  
  


“SET HIM FREE,” Papyrus said, staring demandingly at Grillby, but his voice shook noticeably.

 

“...What?”   
  
“SET HIM  _ FR- _ ” Sans stopped his brother, a hand gently on his arm.

 

“death ‘s angry,” he said, quietly. “he’s… ‘e’s hurt and scared. if we set him free  _ now, _ d’you think it’ll really end well?”

 

Papyrus glanced at Death, wishing he could see the demon he’s cuddled with just the other night. The demon he won the trust of. But all he saw was madness. And the fact that Sans was probably  _ right _ almost hurt more than seeing Death in this state.

 

“...I’M… I’M SO SORRY,” he let - no -  _ sobbed _ out, unable to look at Death any longer.

  
  


“den yer jus’ like dem.” Death replied, glaring at Papyrus, before backing away, going into a ball and simply…. staying that way. Ignoring everyone else around him and just, sulking. Death decided he was done with all of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	7. when you try to be a hero but it blows up in your face...

Hearth was speechless, the creature talked, he  _ talked  _ and even made sense in the point he raised. They were all keeping a sentient being locked up, knowing he is, yet not setting him free. They weren’t any better, none of them were, talking about him like he was a prize or a sword you will find in the market. He spoke and gave them a reality check, not only for calling them out on fighting over a  _ person _ , but proving… no..  _ reminding _ them he was one. That they never asked what he wanted yet they all fought for it, like they cared.

 

But they were all being insensitive after all, how would he feel if all that happened to the demon happened to him? Bad.

 

He would feel helpless and not worth shit.

  
  


Papyrus stayed quiet as he used his magic to levitate the cage into the carriage. Stayed quiet as he got onto it without any more hesitation. Only when his brother followed him onto it with their bags, placing a gentle hand on Papyrus’ shoulder, did the younger skeleton begin to cry.

 

This wasn’t okay. None of this was  _ okay. _ They should’ve let Death gone so long ago, should’ve set him free instead of keeping him like a dangerous animal.

 

And why was he keeping him now? Because he was  _ scared. _ Because Sans was scared, because  _ Papyrus _ was scared. Scared of Death killing them, when at this point, didn’t they deserve it?

 

Grillby checked if there was anything him or the others forgot, before taking the two skeletons horses, tying them to the carriage and getting onto it himself. “Where are we going?” He asked the skeletons, Sans showing him the location on the map. He nodded, already readying his hold on the reins as he only waited for his brother.

  
  


Hearth hurried to sit next to his brother, quiet and maybe a bit unsure. Once they started to move, and the town they lived in their whole lives was out of sight, Hearth looked at his brother. “Did our… family really lie…? About everything?”

 

His whole world was ripped from under him, he felt like he was falling and there was no net to catch him. He felt alone and lost, not knowing where he now stood, or what to believe anymore. Grillby seemed to take this better, but yet, he wasn’t the one to almost rape someone. Someone who was capable of thought and feelings.

 

He felt like scum…

  
  


Grillby’s hold on the reins tightened. He was staring straight ahead, but watching his brother from the corner of his eyes. He… shouldn’t have found out this way. This rash and cruel. But what could Grillby have done about it?  _ He _ hadn’t known either. He had just always kept his doubt to the words preached and taught to him.

 

“I’m… not saying they did,” he finally sighed out. “I’m sure they  _ believe _ what they’ve taught us, the same way we did until now.” They were taught the same words by their parents, and those were taught by theirs. The lies had to root from  _ somewhere, _ some malicious intent or simply misinformation.

 

Or maybe it  _ had _ been true at one point, maybe demons weren’t the same as they once had been, or  _ this _ one was simply special.

 

He didn’t know. He didn’t think he ever would.

  
  


“I almost raped someone….” Hearth whispered, the thought of someone overhearing and knowing what he done was overwhelming. He had almost put his dick inside someone that was scared of being raped, he almost made a sin…. yet what are really sins now? Now that he was lied to, and where truth ended and sin begins. It’s not clear, Hearth doesn’t think it will ever be, he will just have to make the line himself. 

 

He looked behind him, into the other entrance of the carriage, their carriage was rather plain, it was a wagon with a big cloth over it, flaps on the back of the carriage and behind the rider. Hearth saw past the cage of the curled up demon to the two skeletons. They weren’t handling this so well either. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this… brother..”

  
  


Grillby sighed, but took one hand off the reins to place it on Hearth’s arm. “I followed you on my own, brother,” he said, carefully, before taking his hand back again. “Was about time we left that church anyway, don’t you think?”

  
  


Hearth smiled weakly, “Yeah… it was.”

 

-

 

For the next few days, the four monsters traveled with the demon. There was always a tension in the air when one of them came close to the demon, yet no one pushed it. Death has become cold to Papyrus, sometimes just down right refusing food from him, and having Grillby try again later, succeeding sometimes himself.

 

It all depended on Death’s mood, sometimes he would ignore Papyrus, sometimes Grillby, most of the time with Sans, and all the time for Hearth. But some days, he would ignore Papyrus more than Hearth, or would actually acknowledge  _ Sans  _ and let him give him food.

 

Today is one of those days, Death ignored Papyrus the most, ever since all of them have started traveling, Death never let Papyrus close again. Never sitting close to him, never talking to him, looking at him or even acknowledging he is there. Today Death seemed more tolerable with Sans, feeling numb to what Sans has done for him today. Maybe he won’t tomorrow, no one ever knew.

 

The only thing everyone knew is, Death’s mood can change, one day or two he will go without eating just because he couldn’t stand any of them at all.

 

The cage was brought out of the carriage so Death can be out in the open air, but how cruel it is, only made Death even more grumby, having freedom so close yet so far away.

  
  


They had made a small campfire to cook their food, meat they had left-over from their stay at the town, though they were going to run out of it soon. Sans glanced at Death, worry and guilt almost overtoning his fear. 

 

It was his turn to feed the demon, mostly because of how tolerable he seemed to Sans today. The skeleton quietly moved away from the rest of the group to the cage instead, in his hands a bowl of water and some meat.

 

He didn’t look at Death when he quietly moved the bowl of water inside, he  _ couldn’t. _ He was scared of the hatred he might find in his face, scared of the hatred he  _ deserved. _

 

He hurt Death and he hurt Papyrus, out of his own fear.

  
  


The demon stared at Sans when he approached, until he left, his body was still the whole exchange. Once he was left alone again, he looked at the food left for him and debated if he should eat it or not. Yes, he decided he would.

 

Slowly getting up enough to reach and grab for the meat, then the bowl, going back to the middle of the cage to feel at least a little more safe. Being in the middle where you can watch and  _ see  _ if anyone will reach out and try to touch you, or just the sense of being protected by the cage as much as it is keeping him in. Or just put it plain and simple, Death like to stay in the middle of the cage.

 

He ate quietly, never looking to see what the others are doing, only ever looking when they get close, and sometimes he deems them not even worth  _ that _ .

 

Hearth felt a little useless here, Papyrus and Sans glared at him for even walking past Death from the carriage to the campfire, he was never allowed to feed Death, talk to him, and sometimes one of them glares at him for even staring at Death.

 

But he did offer to go hunt for food, at least he had skill there, and would hunt down a few animals in a while. Wanting to finish his food before heading out, it is dusk and he wanted to catch something before dark. The rest will be waiting for him here, with Grillby staying to make sure they don’t leave without them.

  
  


Papyrus stayed with the cage once Hearth left and they put it back into the carriage. He always did. Even when he was busy, was doing something else like helping setting up camp, Papyrus never let Death out of his sight. Never left him alone for a night. 

 

Sometimes he tried to talk to him. Tried to ask if he needed something, if he was hungry or thirsty, sometimes he just talked about anything. Stories of his own life before, but also after, Sans and him had left their hometown. 

 

Sometimes he apologized. Not always for the same thing. Often for treating Death the way they did, for keeping him locked up, for letting him get sold away. But sometimes Papyrus went farther, apologizing for letting Sans take the offer to kill the demon for shelter, apologizing for leaving home in the first place.

 

Death never replied. Never seemed to pay him any attention aside from hostility at all. And Papyrus would shut up after a bit usually, but he didn’t leave. He was lying with his back on one of the carriages benches, the cage in the middle. Sans was still outside with Grillby, packing up their things again while they waited for Hearth.

 

“SANS TOLD ME ABOUT YOUR SIBLING,” Papyrus said after a small while of silence. He wasn’t looking at Death directly, but it was clear he was talking to him. “I HOPE THAT THEY COME SOON. I HOPE THAT THEY… CAN FIX THIS…” That they could fix what they had broken.

  
  


“‘e will kill all ya…” Death muttered, not looking or and even turning to Papyrus, but at least he talked for the first time after they all decided to travel together.

  
  


Papyrus blinked surprised, not having expected Death to react. To  _ talk. _ He hadn’t even been sure he was  _ listening. _

 

Papyrus sat up, eyes wider than usually as he watched Death sadly. “...I KNOW,” he said. “I… THINK I’VE COME TO TERMS WITH THAT AT SOME POINT.” He lied back down again, deciding not to elaborate on it.

  
  


Death didn’t answer, had nothing to say. What would he say? This young skeleton has come to terms with dying? Ready for his brother to come and kill them all? Then why bother keeping him caged then? If they all accept they were going to die, why bother keeping him caged for longer when a bigger demon was coming to make sure they suffer even more?

 

He will never understand these monsters, they are so stupid.

 

He is stupid.

 

For walking into that fucking trap in the first place, for putting his guard down when he saw the bear trap, thinking this one was going to be easy. Heh, guess that’s what saved Sans that day, thinking he was no threat, only to become the only one to actually capture him.

 

Oh the humiliation. His brother will never let this go.

 

-

 

Today was Grillby’s day, Death only acknowledged him today and by now managed to break out of the belt that was around his back and chest, he exercised his wings a lot that day, hissing at Sans every second he got. Now free of all restrains besides the collar on his next that is connected to the cage and the cage itself. 

 

Death would lay on his back and move his legs up and down, trying to get some form of exercise. Can’t go losing all his strength just because he was in a cage. He would stretch and move around a lot more, but every time someone got close, he would sit in the middle and stare the person down like a statue that had moving eyes.

  
  


Grillby watched the demon fascinated while he exercised. He  _ often _ found himself wondering how a demon like him managed to get himself caught by two sorcerers as young as the skeleton brothers were. He didn’t doubt that they were powerful and smart, but every time he was mesmerized by the demon’s strength, he couldn’t imagine him getting defeated by Sans and Papyrus.

 

After a bit of watching Death, Grillby finally got himself off the ground, a piece of meat in his hand, as well as a pouch of water. He sat down by the cage, nodding towards Death as he handed him the items.

 

“I’ve brought your food.”

  
  


Death didn’t touch or reach out, only waited until Grillby placed the food in the cage. He was no fool, he wasn’t going to reach and go to him just because he had food. He remained a statue until Grillby left.

 

Only then he reached for the food, stuffing his mouth with the meat. This was way littler than what he would usually eat, he would eat so much more than just two slabs of meat a day, he can eat a whole horse and still be starving. 

 

It didn’t really matter, they were once again on the move in a hour, they were currently going up a cliff, having to go over a mountain to get to the next town faster. The cage slid from the front of the carriage to the very back, making Death tense. Papyrus and Sans had to go on their horses for this, to guide them safely up with the carriage. Hearth and Grillby were sitting at the front of the carriage, holding the reins to make sure the horses carrying the carriage didn’t get scared and jump. Death was alone inside the carriage, so no one noticed the cage sliding to the edge due to the incline they were climbing, no one stopped Death getting close to falling.

 

There was no support when the cage did reach the edge, and no one to catch him as he fell from the carriage. The demon let out a loud yelp, the cage starting to roll down the hill, the demon crying out as he hit the cage repeatedly every time the cage hit the ground, making the cage spin more and get faster.

  
  


“ _ DEATH!!! _ ” Papyrus screamed out in shock as he heard the cage tumbling out before he saw it. He already hesitated too long with even realizing what had happened, and didn’t waste a second more. He used his magic to cut through the rope tying the horse to the carriage, before leading it down hill, after the demon.

 

Sans cursed when he saw Papyrus ride off, when he saw Death tumbling down the mountain. He jumped off his own horse, hearing the carriage come to a halt as Grillby called after him.

 

Sans got out his staff, trying to summon something to catch the cage, stop it from tumbling down. But magic never came easy to Sans. Magic was wild. Magic was strong. Magic was destructive. It was alive, had it’s own will and interests. His father always managed to tame his magic with skill and ease, but Sans… less so.

 

The magic exploded in Sans’ face, large spikes appearing where he once stood, flinging the skeleton into the air. He hit the ground roughly, now rolling down the mountain as well. But his staff was still tightly in his hands, and he dug the butt of it into the ground until it caught hold, stopping Sans’ fall and giving him a chance to pull himself up.

 

Papyrus finally managed to catch up with the cage, using his magic to get a hold of it. It was harder with the cage still moving and Papyrus had to put his everything into the hold to keep it, the magic surrounding the cage practically flaring in light. Papyrus stopped his horse once he got it, turning it around to get up the mountain again, his focus only on the cage, never faltering, eventually riding past Sans. Only once he reached the carriage again did he relax his magic, slowly letting the cage sink to the ground, as Papyrus sunk to his knees and hands himself, panting.

  
  


Hearth was running straight to Sans to grab him, he picked the smaller skeleton up and grabbed his frightened horse, calming it enough before carrying Sans to the entrance of the carriage, setting him down. “Are you okay?”

  
  


Sans groaned, feeling dizzy, his body crying in pain. “...wher’s death?” He slurred at the elemental. “where’s pap’rus? bring me to ‘em.” They had to be safe. Please, dear god, they  _ had _ to be safe.

  
  


Hearth hesitated in picking Sans up again, but he did in the end, carrying him to where Papyrus sat the cage and himself, placing him next to his brother.

 

Death was curled up in the cage, bruises littered his body, his wing was twitching and one of his legs didn’t move or shake at all. He hid his face, not letting anyone see what expression he was making, but you could hear some winces of pain every time he moved in the slightest. This struck something inside Hearth, wanting so bad to reach in and help, anything, help somehow, but he didn’t know what or if he was even wanted near Death.

  
  


As soon as Sans saw his brother was safe, exhausted and panting, but safe, he crawled up to the demon. He put his arms through the bars, trying to reach one of the wounds or bruises to heal them.

  
  


Death tensed the moment he heard movement way too close to him. He hissed at the person that came close to him, his weak tail trying to swipe at the hand, the hand that belonged to Sans he realized. But he didn’t like Sans today, today he wasn’t numb to what that monster did to him, and suddenly he didn’t care for the pain either. He moved forward to try and bite the hand away, warn Sans to not get near him, growl if that wasn’t enough to get his damn point across that  _ he doesn’t want them near! _

  
  


Sans hissed as Death bit him, caving in a little, until his bent head was resting against the bars. But he never put his hands down, instead using the connection where Death bit him to let his magic seep through him. He didn’t know if it would do a lot this way, having to travel through the whole body to heal rather than being applied directly to the wounds, but Death wasn’t cooperating and Sans was shaking and scared and he just  _ wanted to fucking heal this asshole. _

  
  


Death froze, feeling warmth come from Sans hand, flowing through him and easing the pain. Normal magic can’t heal him, it would hurt him more likely, but this was dark magic, this monster had dark magic. No, this had a touch of demon magic, this monster was a demon? Not a full one, or Death would have noticed the second he met him, but only a bit, he noticed little times when the hint of demon could be smelled on Sans before, but he thought Sans just carried something that belonged or  _ was  _ a demon. But now, he knew, and he couldn’t help but to loosen his hold on the hand, maybe even move forward the slightest bit. This was interesting, why would Sans have dark magic in him? Was he related to a demon? Or is he just now starting to become one? 

 

Either way, the magic was soothing and it reminded him of home, home he missed with a strong passion. But as the magic coursed through him, the dark magic that wasn’t his or his brother’s, it was a new dark magic, and it sent something through him. Something… he didn’t feel for a while, his insides grew just a bit hotter than before, it would have gone unnoticed if Death wasn’t hyper aware right now.

 

But this new dark magic did something to him, not only heal, but made him feel warmer than he should be when being healed…

  
  


Sans sighed when he felt Death relax into his magic, the healing actually seeming to work, as he had hoped. He moved his hands away from Death’s mouth and over his body now, trying to hover over as many of the bruises as he could on his way to the twitching wing. His palms ran over the leathery appendages carefully, gently, as if putting even the tiniest bit of pressure on them could break them.

 

He could feel eyes on him as he healed the demon, but decided to focus solely on keeping the magic in control this time. He was aware already that Papyrus had caught up on him and Gaster being… different in nature of magic. They never talked about it.  _ Sans _ never talked about it with  _ anyone, _ scared of what he would find out, scared of the judgement.

 

But the priests…? He didn’t know what  _ they _ would do if they found out, but… he might know soon enough.

 

Healing Death, though, was right now more important than any of that.

 

After deciding he had sent enough of his magic through the wing, he moved his hands farther down, reaching Death’s limp leg.

  
  


Death moved closer the more time Sans spent healing him, to the point that he was laying on the bars, purring ever so softly, soft enough for only Sans to hear, being pressed up to the same bars as Sans, it was like they were laying on each other if the bars weren’t there, but they were…

 

Once Sans stopped sending his magic into Death’s body, already pulling away, Death moved his head so he was facing Sans’ face, it was already so close from Sans healing him, but now Death was facing him, he leaned as much as he could. His tongue peeking out only a little bit, Death gently and oh so softly ran the tip of his tongue on Sans cheek, in a silent thanks for healing him. The lick was small and almost nothing, but it happened and it was there, it was like one of the softest, most lightest butterfly kiss that ever been given. 

 

Death laid back down after that, curling up on himself and then proceeded to ignore everyone once again.

  
  


Sans eyes were wide in surprise, glancing at Death for a little while longer as his face felt hotter than usual. What was he doing? What was he  _ thinking? _ Death was still a demon when it came down to it, a demon that killed and  _ would _ kill. A demon that had felt soft under his palms, that purring sounded like music to Sans’ ears.

 

He scooted away from the cage, quick and rapidly as if it’d burnt him. He could feel Papyrus react, his little brother holding onto him in a tight side hug, eyes closed.

 

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT BROTHER???” He asked concerned. Was he? Sans still was in pain, exhausted, dizzier even after all that just happened.

 

Sans nodded anyways. “wha’ ‘bout you?” He slurred out tiredly. Papyrus nodded as well.

 

“I’M FINE, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT ME.” He assured him quickly. “I… THINK DEATH WILL BE FINE NOW, TOO.”

 

Sans nodded, leaning into his brother. He  _ hoped _ he would be.

  
  


After the incident, Hearth and Grillby had a hand behind them at all times to have a hold on one of the bars, keeping Death from sliding out and falling once again. They both had reins in one hand, sharing the duty to guide the horses while also holding to the cage. Sans and Papyrus were stationed to the back of the carriage, just in case the flames lost their grip and the cage came sliding out, Sans and Papyrus will be there to stop it. They left the flaps open, since they done nothing to stop or ease the fall of the cage, they left it like that for Sans and Papyrus to watch the demon while they climbed up the mountain.

 

Death on the other hand, stayed curled up, not moving anymore after he gave Sans his thanks. He was deep in his own thoughts now…

 

Like how they all jumped up when he fell, he saw the look of horror on the flame’s face when he fell, he didn’t get to see it for long but he did manage to get a glimpse while he became a bouncing ball.  _ Papyrus _ on the other hand went after him the second he knew what was happening, he was the one to jump into action first, the first and only one to catch him, yes he was already banged up, but at least he didn’t have to endure it for longer than he could of. 

 

_ Sans _ was the one to heal him, even when he bit down and growled at him, the monster just went right in, even let Death bite him just to heal him. For some odd reason he looked banged up too, like he also fell. But did he really? Was he that stupid enough to fall after him? He hoped not, or then this one wouldn’t have  _ at least _ the little knowledge Death thought Sans possessed. 

 

The skeleton brothers were the ones to capture and keep him locked up, yet they also act like they care for him. Papyrus with being as scared as he was trying to catch him, and Sans looking scared that he couldn’t  _ heal  _ him. When not that long ago he starved and treated him like a sack of rotten potatoes. 

 

Death didn’t know what they were planning or why the sudden change after they sold him off, but for some reason, he noticed the skeletons getting more protective. It’s ironic if you think about it, they were the ones to kidnap him in the first place, Sans was the one to starve him and act like he was lower than dirt, Papyrus and giving him false hope and care.

 

Did they forget he was a killer? That he killed everything he saw move? That he killed for fun? And ate way too much meat, enjoying the hunt and kill the most? If they have, then they are foolish, but then why would they still keep him in the cage then? They know his brother is coming, why aren’t they doing anything about that?

 

Was Papyrus saying the truth? They accepted it? Then what’s the point in keeping him caged if they cared, yet don’t want to die, but still knowing they will die when his brother comes? 

 

Monsters are so weird…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> 


	8. oh come on! why do YOU get to fuck him!?!?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Content Warnings: Explicit sexual content**

They’ve gotten past the mountain and were heading closer to the next town, their next stop, it’d only be a few more days of travel until they would reach it. They hadn’t exactly discussed yet what to do once they got there, but it would definitely be easier to hide a caged demon within a carriage than on a horse.

 

They halted at a small clearing, setting up camp for the night, preparing food. They hadn’t exactly assigned anyone on feeding duty this time, but Papyrus simply took it on himself to care for the demon. He grabbed one of the bigger pieces of meat, as well as his pouch of water, making his way to the demon.

 

Sans didn’t know why. Didn’t know what worried him. But as soon as he saw his brother going up to the demon, he went rigid, eyes burning into the younger skeleton. He didn’t say anything yet, didn’t find a reason to, but he _wanted_ to, his rational mind fighting with his instincts screaming to tell Papyrus to _get away from him._

  


Once Papyrus got close enough, Death’s sockets snapped open, locking onto Pap and pouncing, of course the cage stopped him, but Death held onto the bars with his claws, both claws from his hands to his feet grabbing and holding him up. His tail went through the bars to try and swipe at Papyrus, snarling at him like he was an enemy. His wings spread as widely as he could to look bigger and more imitating.

 

Death has been getting more and more alert and angry by the time past, his body was getting hotter and hotter, no matter how much breeze went into the carriage, it started to become a problem, he couldn’t ignore it anymore. It all started to happen when Sans healed him, he was regretting giving him that lick, right now he feels more like giving him a _kick_.

 

Yet, everytime Sans got close, it felt like things were going to be okay, the heat grew stronger with Sans, but he still wanted Sans close. The heat was….

 

The heat.

 

Heat.

 

He was in heat…

 

Sans triggered his heat with his demonic magic.

 

That fucker!

 

Like hell he was going to let his dick near him!

  


“ _get away from him!_ ” Sans growled, not sure himself if it was directed at Death or at his startled brother. But in the end it was Papyrus who stumbled away, eyes wide in shock. Grillby caught him carefully, moving the young skeleton to safety, before taking the meat and water from him, already heading to towards the cage.

 

But Sans blocked him off, practically tearing the items out of Grillby’s hands. “‘s _my_ demon, it’s _my_ turn,” he hissed, glowering at Grillby, who simply took a confused step back, taken aback by this. But he didn’t complain.

 

“Hey, it’s my demon! I paid for him, we had a deal!” Hearth called out, Sans made a deal, he can’t back out of it now, they already made the exchange and the only reason the demon is with them is because Hearth is there. The demon really is Hearth’s now, Sans and Papyrus already gave that right up.

  


Sans whipped around glowering at the elemental, but it was Papyrus who replied to him.

 

“HE’S NOT _ANYONE’S_ DEMON, HE’S HIS OWN PERSON,” he huffed out.

 

Death growled at that, like he was reminding everyone that he was a person that they all have trapped in a cage.

  


Sans glare softened a bit, possessiveness replaced by guilt. Right. He needed to stop thinking of Death as _his_ in any way. He trapped him, kidnapped him, but that didn’t make Death his property.

 

He went up to the cage, fighting the urge to lean into the bars, instead simply sitting down in front of it. God damn it, something was smelling really good here and it was _distracting._

 

“food,” was all he eventually managed to mutter out, his voice low as he was about to place the meat and water pouch into the cage.

  


But Death walked over to the side Sans was on, letting go of the bars he held onto and sitting in front of Sans, reaching out and actually grabbing the meat and pouch. He didn’t stare at him…. well he did stare, but he didn’t sit still like a statue, he walked over to Sans, and actually grabbed the food, didn’t wait till the feeder left.

 

He didn’t move away once he got the food either, just sat there and ate his meat, the pouch on his lap. Death has never done this, never to Papyrus anymore, never to Grillby and Sans, and of _course_ not even close to _Hearth_. He wasn’t even aggressive anymore, he just sat there while eating supper, no tail whip, no snarling, biting, huffing or even a stare of intimidation.

 

Just… sat there.

  


Sans stayed as well. He didn’t even notice it at first. Didn’t notice the way he hadn’t moved from his spot, the way he was slightly resting on the bars, closer to Death. The way he was _staring,_ _watching_ the demon’s every movement with curiosity, a fascination he couldn’t quite explain to himself.

 

It wasn’t until he heard Grillby call out behind him, that he jumped away from the bars, startled and shocked.

 

“Hey, are you okay?” The elemental asked, the question genuine and concerned.

 

Sans moved away from the cage now, slowly at first, before he couldn’t get away fast enough. “yea, ‘m just exhausted,” he said quickly, marching past the group and towards the carriage, ignoring the food completely. “‘ll be takin’ a nap.”

 

He didn’t nap that day, couldn’t fall asleep. The pictures of Death, the longing, the anxiety of not being able to see him making it hard for the skeleton to do so.

 

-

 

A few days past, and Sans ended up feeding Death every time, Death becoming more and more aggressive to the point Papyrus can’t stay near the cage anymore like he used to. Sans had to stay near now, Death became more tame yet… more whiny? He would whine at Sans and roll around in his presence, sometimes hissing at him, but otherwise, stayed calm.

 

They reached the next town, it wasn’t as big as the town Grillby and Hearth were from, but at least it was almost completely made of a market. Hearth and Grillby went off to try and sell the two horses that belonged to Sans and Papyrus, having the two slowest horses that won’t keep up with the other two. Papyrus had to go with them, to tear from the carriage and thus, Death’s side to get the supplies they needed. He went with the two flames with a list, so he won’t be alone.

 

Sans on the other hand, had to stay behind with the carriage and the demon. Since he was the only one Death let near these days, and can safely give him food without a single scratch, he was on demon watch duty.

 

Death just stayed on the cage ground, on his belly with his head on the cool surface, he felt like he was overheating. His legs moved and twitched every so often, his butt planted on the metal under him to keep it as cool as possible. He whined at Sans softly, not really sure why, but just wanting to.

 

Or maybe he did. He knew he was in heat, and if Sans was at least part demon, then he will be able to smell the scent he _must_ be giving off. Death would sometimes wiggle his butt in the air, not sure why and the purpose, just wanted to do it, and hoped Sans saw. Or maybe it was instinct kicking in, making him shake his butt in the air to entice possible mates.

 

The only possible mate was Sans, and Sans was a dick.

 

Death was screwed.

  


Sans noticed every signal Death sent him. Every whine, every wiggle, even the scent, driving him nuts, like he was hyper focused on only Death and nothing else. He just didn’t _understand_ them, didn’t understand what was going on.

 

He was glad when he was left alone with the demon, because it gave him the chance to let out some of his nervous energy in form of pacing back and forth in front of the cage, panting ever so slightly.

 

“what… what did you do to me?” Sans accused the demon, but there was no venom or aggression in his voice, just… fear, confusion… desperation? “what’s _going on!?_ ”

  


Death could answer, but he decided to give Sans the silent treatment now. So he turned his back to him, with obvious sass, ass still pressing to the metal under him. He huffed at the accusation, almost offended that Sans will blame this on him, when Sans was the one to trigger his heat in the first place.

 

_nah like i wan’ ta fuck ya ei’der ya dick…_

  


Sans watched flabbergasted as Death simply turned around, ignoring him, and he groaned into his hands, continuing his pacing. Was this some kind of mind control, was Death slowly trying to sneak his way into his mind, stealing his own will? It didn’t seem realistic, the demon never looked like he was doing anything on _purpose_ , that he was planning anything malicious. But that’s sure what it _felt_ like.

 

Either that or that he was going insane.

 

“c’mon, y’re doin’ _somethin’,_ ” Sans said, a lot more desperate now, his hands clinging to the bars as he came up to the cage, glancing down at Death. “what _is_ it? why do you-” His voice lowered a little, dropping an octave deeper as his eyes grew slightly unfocused. “why do you smell _so good?_ ”

  


Gosh Sans was so close, and Death can barely think straight, all he can really piece together is that Sans was a possible mate, and he was close. Death didn’t realize he put his butt in the air again, letting Sans smell where that really good scent was coming from. Will Sans fuck him if he told him he was in heat, or will he run away?

 

Why didn’t he want Sans fucking him? He was the only demon around! Why is Sans a demon again? He kind of smells like one.

 

“heat…” Death panted, whimpering as he stuck his butt out even more for Sans, welp guess turning away from him before was a good idea, since Sans was now facing his presented ass, his tail up and curled over his head to give Sans better access. “when ya healed.”

  


Sans’ mind was hazy, fogged up by the delicious smell. He narrowed his eyes, needing a few moments to process Death’s words. He was… hot? Since Sans healed him? But what did _that_ have to do with anything?

 

It wasn’t until a good few seconds later that Sans’ eyes widened in realization and he let out a deep groan.

  
Death was a demon. He was in _heat._ And Sans was fucking _affected_ by it, _so badly affected._ And part of him told him to fight it for so many reason. Because he couldn’t fuck a _demon,_ because he couldn’t fuck a demon that _hated_ him.

 

But another, stronger part of him told him _it was okay._ Death was _presenting_ himself to Sans, with his ass up and this smell all over him. He had been practically _begging_ for him this whole time, it’d be more cruel to just go away and leave him to it at this point.

 

And then there was a third part. The part that didn’t even think _at all_. The part that just wanted to be close to Death, wanted to touch Death, wanted to be at the source of this smell. The part that managed to grab control of his magic, dark magic seeping through the bars melting them under his hands until there was a hole big enough for Sans to comfortably climb through.

  


Death gasped when he turned to see Sans _melt the bars_ . Oh fuck, Sans was strong. Oohhh and seeing him just come into the cage with the air of something powerful, the demon in Sans demanding respect and to lay down for him. Something Death will gladly do, his tail was wagging over his head, whimpering at Sans to take him, mate with him, make him _his._

 

Oh god please be his mate! Please!

  


Sans couldn’t even decide whether the noise Death was making was a groan or a growl, but it was loud and deep. He went onto his knees behind Death, hands running over his thighs until they grabbed hold of Death’s ass. _That’s_ where the smell was coming from, Sans realized, and he buried his face into it to soak up as much of the smell as he could. His tongue rolled out of his mouth, thick and salivating as he ran it over the source of the smell, tasting it, tasting _Death,_ and he tasted so _damn good._

  


Death whimpered and whined into the metal ground, a demon would smell and examine the demon in heat to tell if it is worthy of it, Death can only hope Sans thinks he is worthy enough to be taken from him. Death wished so bad right now, he really wanted to mate _now_ , he really needed a mate _right_ now, if Sans determined him unworthy, Death wouldn’t know what to do.

 

So he played the role of good dog, letting Sans smell and do as he pleased with him, and hopefully, have his way with him as well.

  


“ _so good,_ ” Sans groaned into him in between long licks of his tongue, running it over the fabric of the old, dirty shorts. He couldn’t tell anymore what of the wetness seeping through the pants was form his own saliva and what was from Death, so he pulled his face away for a moment, before pulling down the pants.

 

Sans had seen pelvises before. He had seen bare bones, and he knew there shouldn’t be anything erotic about it. But the way it was presented to him, the way the magic was dripping with liquids _just for him_ , it had arousal running through Sans, making him feel even hotter and harder than before.

 

His face sunk back to Death’s ass, his tongue now having free access to the demon’s juices, licking between the folds hungrily. His hands went from Death’s pants to his own, unbuttoning them and pulling the fabric down enough to reveal his dick.

  


To say Death was excited was one thing, to say he was thrilled was another. And boy, was he thrilled, Sans has taken his cock out into the open, pulled his shorts down, and even licked his needy magic.

 

He was a bit confused why Sans would lick at his magic like that, smell yes, lick like it was a grand meal no. But like hell Death will question it, he needed a mate and Sans was willing. His wings flapped aimlessly, not lifting him up at all, but they were moving in excitement, his tail was much the same, wiggling like you were trying to throw off a bug that came out of nowhere.

 

“please…” Death whispered, his legs moving apart to give Sans room to do his thing. “mate me.”

  


A shiver ran down Sans’ spine as he heard Death plead underneath him. Fuck. He liked that. He _really_ liked that.

 

He lifted his face from Death’s ass again, tongue still hanging out, now covered in Death’s juices. Placing one hand on his cock he lead it towards Death’s dripping entrance, the other hand holding onto the demon’s ribs as he mounted him. He slid in slowly, inexperienced and wanting to hurt neither Death nor himself. But the hot walls felt so good around his cock, and by the time Sans had hilted, he was lying with his chest over Death’s back, hands holding onto the ribs.

 

He was drooling, his eyes hazy as his face lied between Death’s wings. “can… _hah…_ c-can i… move?”

  


Death was panting into the cool metal, so much relief passing through him once Sans _finally_ started claiming him. “hah, please.” Death whispered, there was a tone to his voice, something that said, ‘just fucking do it already’. He was already trying to move his ass closer to Sans’ dick, whimpering when he wasn’t getting the attention where he wanted it.

 

Ugh, can this guy see he wants it, wants it hard! They have so many rounds to do! A heat won’t go in one go, they were going to have to do this for a long time, and Death just wanted this to get a move on.

  


Sans growled, pleased as he got permission, pulling his hips back, before snapping them back into Death. The sound of bone hitting bone rang loudly through the forest, soon preceded by more, wetter noises.

 

Fuuuck, this was good. Sans was grunting, groaning into the other skeleton’s shoulders, his fingers digging into Death’s ribs as he held him steady to fuck him hard. To claim him. Get his own scent over him, letting everyone know Death was _his._

 

God, he wanted to mark him, Sans thought, as he ran his tongue over his mouth. He leaned a bit further until he could reach Death’s neck, lapping at the bones at first, before biting down.

 

He was no carnivore. He didn’t have any fangs, barely any canines, so his teeth weren’t sharp. But he had _force_ and strength, and he forced his way through the bone, not stopping until he drew blood and got to lick up the blood.

  


The thing is with dark magic, it can heal someone with dark magic, but you can also mark them, have your magic protect that claiming mark from being healed away, or overwritten. Unless of course, your magic doesn’t exist anymore, meaning if you die, your magic that was on a mate will disappear, leaving your former mate on the market once again.

 

So when Death felt the teeth sink into his bone he _keened_. Panting and letting out small grunts as Sans pounded into his magic, oh this felt so nice, so amazing and great. A sense of belonging washed over Death when he realized he was someone else’s, not a toy, not some kind of trophy, but a mate, he was theirs and they were his. He now was branded to this monster, and how good it felt to be.

 

They kept like this, cumming once, even twice, they kept at it. Heats were a string of nonstop sex, even if one was tired, your body just won’t stop, doesn’t matter you’re sore or wounded, you were going to finish this heat.

 

By now so much cum dripped down Death’s legs, but none of them cared, all that mattered was taking care of the intense feeling of heat running through them. Death had become a moaning mess on the metal, his ass was the only thing up in the air, taking Sans’ cock with no problem, squeezing and welcoming it with tight walls and warmth.

 

By the fifth time Death released his juices, they were starting to slow down, morning turned to dusk, the others will be coming soon, but they didn’t care, they were mating. This was what Death has been waiting for for days.

  


Sans could feel his bones growing weary, moving growing harder, more sluggish. The high of the heat was starting to wear off. The need, the craving was still there, dulled, like a hunger you could never quite fully satisfy. But he wasn’t sure for how much longer he could go on.

 

Another orgasm ripped through Sans, the ‘sorcerer’ groaning into Death’s bones as he filled him up with even more cum, only for it to drizzle out of Death again. He was panting as he grew still on top of Death for a moment. A moment Sans tried to collect himself. To gain back some strength.

 

But he only ended up collapsing on top of him, his legs finally giving out underneath him, his consciousness already slipping into an exhausted sleep. He barely managed to move his skull upwards a bit to leave a small kiss on the underside of Death’s jaw, before he finally passed out.

  


Death’s behind slowly sunk down until it was pressed to the metal, Sans still inside and over him. Death didn’t complain, his new mate thoroughly fucked the heat out of him, the mate bite doing a lot to subdue his heat away.

 

At first he didn’t know what Sans did when he pressed his face to his and delivered…. something? But he was too tired and chalked it off as a sort of way to show affection. Death laid his head down and closed his sockets, his mate over him to protect him, and he was pleased beyond what he asked for.

 

He only managed to notice the sunset before drifting to sleep.

 

Hearth was the one to mostly carry the supplies, being the one with the most strength. Grillby only carrying a few items, and Papyrus holding the small bag of gold from the horses they sold.

  
  


It wasn’t until they got closer to the camp that Grillby could sense a faint, animalistic smell in the air. That was odd. He didn’t remember there being any hordes or herds of animals being close, where could that smell come from?

 

But he didn’t even get to investigate on that, before he could already hear Papyrus gasp, “THE CAGE IS OPEN!!!” And Grillby dropped everything he was holding, immediately drawing his swords in alert.

  
  


Hearth set everything he was carrying down, already moving to Papyrus’ side to see for himself. That cage was magic resistant! How can Death get out, and where was Sans? He quickly drew the flaps of the carriage open, letting light from the sunset pour into the carriage, only for Hearth to widen his eyes with what he saw.

 

The bars were… melted? Death was there, but so was Sans. When Death faced away from Sans way back, he was also facing away from the entrance, meaning from their viewpoint. They could see Sans’ cock lodged into Death’s magic, cum still dripping slowly from the pussy, a pool under them. Sans was completely over Death, with Death just… splayed out for him. Sans was hugging Death protectively, like he was hiding him from the world, but to Hearth’s shock, when he stepped inside the carriage, he saw Death’s shoulder.

 

Sans laid his head on Death’s left shoulder, leaving Death’s right bare and exposed, the shoulder that Sans bit into, showing off the new love mark.

 

Hearth had to take a moment to actually realize what happened, before it finally sank in, and when it did, it hit hard. “Oh come  _ on! _ Why are you the one to fuck him!?!” He almost whined, but more tired and in disbelief. 

  
  


Papyrus squeaked a little when Hearth said it, turning away with a bright face. He decided he  _ really _ didn’t have to see his brother like this, even  _ if _ he was glad Sans seemed to have finally grown to Death… in an odd way. Maybe not the most preferable way. But who was he to judge.

 

Grillby on the other hand was a lot busier examining the melted off pieces than to look over the two passed out creatures. They deserved their privacy anyways, even if it came to a shock to him to see those two like  _ this _ . The bars were what really caught his interest in the end.

 

“They’re reeking with dark magic,” Grillby mused out quietly, mostly directed to his brother. “The ends of the bars. They’ve been melted with dark magic.”

 

He eyed the demon and monster curiously. If Death had been able to melt these bars the whole time, why hadn’t he done so before?   
  
No, this wasn’t Death’s work. This was a warlocks work, the work of someone who had managed to harvest demonic power for their own uses, for their own strength.

  
  


Hearth huffed, already storming out. “Fucking- ugh, he is my demon!!” He yelled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> 


	9. you're a wizard, harry...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GAYLIES BACK FROM THE HOSPITAL !
> 
> **Warning: A little bit of sexual content**

Sans groaned quietly. His whole body was sore, worse even than after he rolled down the mountain. And whatever he had decided to sleep on was really hard and… boney?

 

Sans eyes snapped open. He didn’t need a second to remember what had happened, his face heating up in reaction  _ immediately. _ It  _ did _ take him a long, long moment to realize, to process that he had fallen asleep like  _ this, _ in the plain open inside the carriage, his dick still inside the demon, leaving  _ no _ detail up to imagination. It was all right there in plain sight. The puddle of mixed liquids, the melted bars, the damn mark on Death’s neck.

 

They’ve seen him like this. They  _ must have.  _ And the second Sans realized that, he panicked.

  
  


Death growled lowly in his sleep, curling up slightly to protect himself. His wings furling to his sides, like they were protecting an attack from both side, his tail whipped sluggishly, maybe trying to kill something in his sleep. His claws on his feet clenched, making his body go tense before relaxing again, also making his magic squeeze the cock still inside him. The feeling of something inside him made him growl again, but Sans’ presence calmed him enough to not wake.

  
  


Sans gasped a little when his sore cock got squeezed, and he wasted no time in finally, carefully pulling out of the demon, the action quickly followed by liquids pouring out of his abused hole.

  
And.   
  
Fuck.

 

That was a  _ really _ good sight, whether he was still in heat or not…

 

Sans tried to distract himself, turning around and pulling up his pants again. If he was lucky the others weren’t awake yet, he could sneak to the closest pond and clean up.

 

He was  _ not _ lucky.

 

Hearth, Grillby, even  _ Papyrus _ were all already sitting outside, as if they had been waiting for him, eyes quickly directed to the skeleton stepping out of the carriage.

 

“uh… mornin’...”

  
  


“Had fun fucking  _ my  _ demon?” Hearth said sourly, glaring at Sans like he did the worst sin to ever exist. “Mark him while your at it.” He was sitting on a log, sitting in front of the campfire with arms crossed.

  
  


Sans face felt hot when Hearth accused him, but he quickly crossed his arms defensively, looking anywhere but at the three monsters. “he’s not  _ your _ demon.” He’s Sans’ now, claimed and marked.

 

No.

 

_ No. _

 

Death was his own person, not either of their belonging.

 

“death was in heat. i… helped ‘im out.” Sans muttered out, the last words going quieter.

  
  


“Was marking also helping him out?” Hearth fired back, raising a brow at the skeleton, his glare not softening at all.

  
  


“what ‘m i supposed t’ tell you? sorry you didn’t smell his damn heat an’ fuck him before me!?” Sans was embarrassed, frustrated. Scared. “it wasn’t ‘xactly something i planned last fuckin’ month.”

 

“About that,” Grillby spoke up, his voice even, but wary. “About  _ smelling the heat. _ ”   
  
Sans eyes widened, he took a startled step back. Well. He’s fucked up, hadn’t he.

 

“You’re not really a sorcerer, are you?”

 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN???” Papyrus asked surprised and confused. “OF COURSE HE IS! YOU’VE SEEN HIM USE MAGIC!”

  
  


“Other beings can do magic Papyrus…” Hearth answered the young skeleton slowly, eyeing Sans suspiciously now.

  
  


Papyrus glanced confused from Hearth to Grillby to Sans. Sans who still wasn’t looking at any of them, frowning at the ground nervously.

 

“BUT WHAT ELSE WOULD HE BE? DAD WAS A SORCERER! IT PASSED DOWN ON HIM JUST LIKE ON ME,” the younger skeleton argued for Sans.   
  
“yea, ‘dunno what y’re talkin’ ‘bout. i’m from a damn sorcerers heirline.” Sans quickly agreed.

 

Grillby looked at him, not glaring, but definitely skeptically.

 

“I’m talking about the melted bars being covered in dark magic,” he finally said, deciding not to beat around the bush any longer. “You’re a warlock, Sans.”

 

And this time Sans looked up, eyes wide in panic. He was confronted by  _ two _ priests that got the idea he was a warlock, and Sans was open for any attack, defenseless, backed against the carriage.

 

“ _ papyrus _ ,” he called quickly. “ _ staff! _ ”

 

-

 

The sound of voices reached Death’s skull, waking him ever so slowly to consciousness. But what really kicked him into high gear was when he felt the sudden weight that was on his back gone!

 

He sat up, wincing as he sat on his sore behind. He looked down to see the mess, the juices spilling out of him now that he was in a upright position. Only then when he finally paid attention to the voices outside, looking up to the entrance….. the bars… oh right the bars were melted!! He could escape!

 

He quickly and oh so quietly got out the cage, hearing the voices from the back of the carriage, so he decided to go around the cage to the front of it. Only to get stopped by the leash that was attached to the cage, Death gently ran his claws over the collar on his neck.

 

No.

 

He was so close to freedom, might as well go all the way. 

 

And that’s what he did. He looked through the opening where the voices were now yelling at each other, grabbed his already ruined shorts, made sure the coast was clear before grabbing the cage and lifting it up, avoiding letting it hit anything that would cause a noise. Finally out, he peeked from behind the carriage to see the two flames and the young skeleton ganging up on his new mate.

 

Welp, oh well. Death picked up the cage, and quickly sneaked off, he saw the horses alone, tied to a tree, and his hunger screamed. He carefully put the cage down next to the horses, not having them panic due to being around him all the time. To make sure the other doesn’t alert the monsters that trapped him, he slashed both the horses necks at the same time.

 

He quickly and oh so enjoyably ripped the meat, quickly swallowing the flesh in record time, being starved did things to someone.

 

By the time he was done, only the bones were left, even some were eaten! Like a whole leg or parts of the ribs.

 

But he was pushing his luck, the monsters on the other side of the carriage were getting angrier, so he left. Picking up the cage and running off before they noticed he was gone.

 

-

 

Papyrus acted without hesitation, grabbing Sans’ staff he had conveniently decided to keep close for  _ this exact situation _ , tossing it towards Sans before either of the elementals could react.

 

The skeleton caught it with one hand in the air, slamming the butt of it onto the ground, magic crackling at the tip. “ _ stay the fuck back, priests, _ ” he growled.

  
  


Hearth scrambled away from Sans the moment magic started to spark. “Hey, hey! We aren’t attacking you, you fool! We are traveling with a damn demon we all consider a person, why would we treat you worse?” But his hand was on the handle of his morning star, ready to attack if Sans ignites it. 

  
  


“oh, i ‘dunno, maybe ‘cause y’ almost  _ raped _ the demon?” Sans hissed at them. “‘cause we’ve been keepin’ death fuckin’  _ locked up!? _ ”

 

“Sans, please,” Grillby tried, slowly getting off from his spot where he sat, trying to startle neither of the skeletons. “We don’t want to hurt you, we’re just… surprised. Confused.”

 

“well i don’ gotta explain myself to ya!”   
  
“You don’t,” Grillby assured him softly. “But that’s a  _ really _ strong dark power you possess, are… are you  _ aware _ of that?”   
  
Sans frowned. But when he realized the flames really weren’t attacking him, he let himself relax enough for the staff to stop sparking.

 

“...i suppose so,” he muttered out, spotting Papyrus running up to him as soon as it seemed safe. He held onto his younger brother, Papyrus deciding to stand by his side for support, quietly. “i don’ use it a lot. is’ too…” He didn’t want to say uncontrollable or destructive, because then he’d look like a risk, a source of danger. A warlock with strong, demonic powers that couldn’t even  _ control _ them? That sounded like something anyone would call a priest on to purify, and he had two  _ right there. _

 

“...’s exhausting,” he finally decided to finish, before letting his hand tighten around the staff again. “but i swear, you try  _ any _ holy shit on me an’ i won’t hesitate to dust both a ya.”

  
  


“We won’t.” Hearth assured, looking at the flock of birds that suddenly flew off at the same time, there was so many, it was hard to miss.

 

That was never good.

 

“Brother, the birds, there is danger close.” Already getting up and staring where the birds flew from. “Over there.” 

 

He pointed to south west, just on the other side of the carriage, and the horses. “We should move.”

  
  


Grillby watched the birds tensely. “We should,” he agreed quickly. “Sans, Papyrus, get the horses. We’ll pack up camp.”

 

Papyrus nodded without hesitation, already walking to where they had left the horses, tugging Sans with him. Sans was struggling a bit with grasping the situation as quick. He had just been preparing to fight for his life against the priests, now they were all acting like a team again.

 

They…  _ were _ , but he was just still a bit taken aback.

 

He was  _ more _ taken aback when he saw the horses. Or rather the bones left over of them.

  
  


“Fucking-!” Hearth called, dropping the bag he was holding when he was about to put them in the carriage. “Death is gone! The cage is gone too, can you fucking believe it?!” Already running around the carriage to Sans and Papyrus, stopping once he saw the horses, or what’s left of them. “ _ Are you fucking kidding me?!?!” _

  
  


Grillby cursed, running after his brother with his swords drawn. He came to an halt with the rest of them, cursing again as he saw the bones. 

 

“Did you see him?” He asked, but Papyrus shook his head.

 

“THEY WERE ALREADY LIKE THIS WHEN WE CAME HERE!” He explained quickly, while Sans narrowed his eyes.

 

“‘t was fuckin’ death, wasn’t it?”   
  
“We have to find him,” Grillby urged, rather than going in on his question. He was already running towards where they’d seen the birds fly away from, easily making the connection and motioning the others to follow him with a gesture with the sword in his hand.

  
  


Hearth didn’t even have to be told twice, already running to where the birds flew from. On the way seeing dead animals, some eaten, some just slashed and killed for fun.

 

Damn this demon!

 

At one point they passed the cage Death was once in, the leash having been snapped off, meaning Death no longer had a cage holding him back. This was getting kind of creepy, going straight to something that left a trail of death, oh.. hehe. With a cage thrown into the trees, the stench of blood and murder.

  
  


Sans was keeping Papyrus close as they were following the trail, in his hand his staff, held tight and ready to strike. 

 

He didn’t want to have to fight Death. Both because, seeing the trail he left, Sans for the first time realized just  _ how _ murder-happy the demon was. But also because… Papyrus cared for him. Fuck,  _ Sans _ cared for him. He had hated seeing him hurt, had hated seeing him locked up. But this was sick. This trail of death, the smell of blood so thick in the air it was nauseating.

 

It wasn’t natural, it wasn’t  _ okay. _

 

Papyrus didn’t seem to be in a much better place, looking saddened and worried as they followed the trail, part of both of them hoping they wouldn’t find Death.

 

But Grillby and Hearth were hot on his tail. Grillby came to a halt, quietly, motioning the others to stop as he heard noises.

  
  


The noise stopped once they stopped for a few seconds, they heard the little noises Death makes when he is playing with something after a few moments, hearing a scream from a deer. It was screaming in agony, the sound of ripping was heard a moment later and the screaming stopped.

 

The demonic laugh of Death rang into the silence, more movement, then silence.

 

Hearth had his morning star at the ready, he didn’t want to do this, but he had to think of their safety first.

  
  


Papyrus winced at the sound of the scream, but to Sans’ shock he slipped past Grillby and Hearth, oh so sweet and foolish Papyrus slipped past their only force of defense to loudly call out,

 

“DEATH??? ARE YOU HERE?”

 

And Sans let out a strangled, scared noise.

  
  


Death looked backed to where he first came, acting like a deer in headlights with a actual deer in his mouth, hanging onto it’s neck, the head limp with a tongue sticking out. Death backed away a few steps, letting out a low growl, almost like he was answering Papyrus.

 

“Papyrus…!” Hearth whispered harshly, unable to even understand how  _ stupid  _ Papyrus was being, this demon is the same demon they all caged, the same one that went on a killing spree, and now this skeleton was talking straight to him, ruining their only advantage of surprise.

  
  


Papyrus slowed when Death was looking at him, hands up to his chests to show he was unarmed and meant no harm. “IT’S OKAY,” he cooed gently. “WE DON’T WANT TO HURT YOU. PLEASE DON’T BE SCARED.”

 

Grillby watched the young skeleton tensely, unable to tell if he was incredibly stupid or if he actually knew what he was doing. But he could feel Sans tense beside him, struggling with the same question. He was ready to bolt the second Death would seem to be making a move on Papyrus.

  
  


But even with Papyrus’ words, Death still backed away, dragging the deer with him, his wings flapped to make himself look bigger, warning Papyrus that he should back off. Death was  _ drenched  _ in blood, his clothes were completely covered in it, no chance of saving. Blood dripped from his head, even some over his sockets, making it look like it was bleeding out of his eye sockets and nose hole. His claws on both his hands and feet were stained with different colors, red, green, and brown, all from the blood, grass and dirt. Most likely because he was running around as fast as he could go on the soft ground.

  
  


Papyrus was still moving closer, though, ignoring all the warning signs, until Sans’ nerves finally snapped and he slipped past the elementals as well, pulling Papyrus by his shoulders behind him.

 

“i don’ think he’s up for bondin’ right now, paps,” he muttered, voice stressed and anxious.

  
  


Death perked up once he saw Sans, yes he hates the guy, but that asshole was his mate now, and his mate must be tired from their little night they spent together. So he went out to find the perfect offering, also getting himself something to eat. But at least he got a lovely offering here!

 

The demon dragged the dead deer over to Sans, until he dropped it at his feet. He sat on his legs, ready to go running at any time, yet sitting up to see Sans better, he pushed the deer towards Sans when he didn’t move for it.

  
  


Sans blinked surprised when Death dropped the dead deer at his feet, not… sure how to feel about it. “o-oh…,” he muttered out a bit awkwardly. “i, uh… i don’ think i can eat that, death…”

 

He knelt down so he was at Death’s height, looking at the demon apologetically. “thank you, though, i… appreciate it…? maybe we can bring it back to camp...”

  
  


Death seemed to panic when Sans gave him the bad news, already looking around for something else that might be able to fill Sans’ taste.  _ fuck everyt’in’ and my picky mate! ugh, why did i ‘ave ta get da picky snobby one! _

 

He ended up running off to find a better offering, jumping on broken logs like nothing and climbing up a tree, this time traveling by jumping from tree to tree.

  
  


“death,  _ wait!”  _ Sans called, running after the demon, only to end up tripping over the dead deer, getting blood onto his legs and hands. Ugh. Great. He quickly got himself up to finally  _ actually _ run after him, Papyrus close behind him, panicky telling Sans to get him to stop running.

 

“where’re you doing!?” He asked desperately. “i don’t need you to catch me something, it’s fine!”

  
  


Jumping from branch to branch came as a old routine to Death, the feeling felt incredible, moving around, being free, he took all this for granted, now he was going to bask in it for the rest of his life, never let anyone chain him up ever again!

 

He saw something move in front of him, he pounced with no question, claws already going in first, wings helping him glide farther to reach his new prey. He landed on a poor looking young man, a farm boy, about fifteen years old. They screeched when a demon came out of nowhere and roared at him, mouth parted to tear his throat out.

  
  


Sans came to a halt as soon as he saw Death attack a young boy, not even a lot younger than him. He stopped Papyrus from getting closer, the younger skeleton screaming, begging at Death to just calm down and not do this, not kill this person.

 

“ _ Stop, _ ” Grillby demanded, already speeding past Sans and Papyrus. Though he wasn’t going to believe a moment Death was this easy to stop, so he threw one of his blades between Death and the farm boy, creating enough of a distraction to get close enough to fight Death.

 

“I’m  _ not _ letting you kill an innocent civilian, no matter if you’re a demon, a person or a friend of mine.”

  
  


Death went on his hind legs to get away from the blade, screeching backwards, until his wings opened and flapped, lifting him up above everyone’s heads. He took a single glance at Sans, hesitating, before looking back at Grillby and hissing at him. His wings beat strongly, carrying him even more up to the sky, then angling himself to where they came from, flying away.

 

He still has a brother to find, and if his mate was that picky, then he might as well get his own food. Death was not going to waste time on something that wasn’t worth his time, but first he is going to have to find a watering hole or a stream to wash off, can’t have prey smelling him a mile away. He did remember stopping at a stream not that long ago, he can wash up there, and maybe get some fish, he is getting hungry again.

  
  


“ _ death! _ ” Sans called after him, Grillby cursing as he picked up his blade again, regretting he had given the demon enough time to retreat. “god damn it, we’ll never catch ‘im like that! ‘e’s too fast, he can  _ fuckin’ fly! _ we don’t even have  _ horses _ anymore!”

 

Grillby was struggling, too. He watched Death fly away, trying to figure out a pattern, a plan on how they could catch up on him and  _ catch _ him. But it was tough.

 

“When we see him again,” Grillby said, glancing at Sans. “Restrain him. You did that when you caught him, didn’t you?”   
  
Sans eyes went wide at the idea, not feeling that good anymore with casting a spell like that on his mate. But he nodded.

 

“WHY???” Papyrus asked, sounding desperate, almost angry. “WE CAN JUST LET HIM GO!”

 

“...Papyrus,” Grillby sighed. “He’s killing wildlife. He’s killing  _ people. _ ”   
  


Papyrus tensed at that, glancing away. But he didn’t argue any more.

  
  


The young boy scrambled to his feet, already running to the town. “Good! Get away from that  _ thing! _ ”

 

Hearth huffed at the boy, before looking back at the group. “Guess we will have to get the horses we just fucking sold, thank you Death, really…” He said sarcastically, already heading back to their camp. “Let’s hurry, the more time we take the farther away he gets!”

  
  


“Right. Let’s go,” Grillby said, placing his swords into the scabbard again, before ushering the two skeletons with him, hurrying back to town. They didn’t have any time to lose, the longer Death was on the run, the more creatures would lose their lives.

 

It wasn’t fair that they had to hunt down Death to protect others. He knew Papyrus cared about him a great share, and he knew the demon grew to Sans, too. They shouldn’t have to choose between someone they care about or others safety, because the choice wasn’t fair to begin with. It barely  _ was _ a choice, and instead they would have to break Death’s trust even more.

  
If there would just be something they could do to help Death. As a priest he’s only ever learned to kill demons or purify, and purification essentially lead to the demon’s death as well. No one ever  _ expected _ there’d be reasons to keep a demon alive. That demons were sentient, feeling creatures that didn’t  _ deserve _ death any more or less than we all did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   
> 


	10. big brother.

A big dark figure zipped past many animals and people, leaving every town he smelled his sibling in in shambles. The moment he went to where his brother was staying, he knew something was wrong, the villagers were out and about freely, rejoicing about something unknown to him.

 

But the second he went to the cave his brother once was, a scent, a new scent was there. 

 

And his brother was gone.

 

He went to the village, search high and low for him, killing off every single human there, leaving their homes in ruins, a ghost town. His brother wasn’t here….

 

He ran to catch the scent, follow it to the next town, and the next and the next, every time leaving everything in his wake in ruins and a whisper of what it once was. Taking care of the church with the flames in it was a  _ breeze _ . Hah, his brother would have liked that one.

 

But he wasn’t here to enjoy it. His brother was taken, now it was up to him, the big brother, to find his poor lost brother.

 

He was hot on the trail, going up the mountain was easy with his large wings, he had to pause for a moment there though, smelling blood. His brother’s blood. This filled him with rage, boiling hot rage, he went faster than he ever did before.

 

His brother was the fast one, the agile one from ground to sky. But he had strength, he was big, he was the big brother  _ that should of been there to protect him!! _

 

Now he wasn’t going to make that same mistake again…

 

His brother was close, he could feel it…

 

-

 

Death was wiggling around in a low stream closer than he thought from where he once was. Wiggling in the shallow water to get rid of the gunk, the liquid turning red and carried off down the stream. Death didn’t care, he was having a grand time cleaning, oh how long has it been since he last cleaned up? Oh Yeah, since the day he was taken!

 

This had best timing too! He just got done from a mating session and a feast, of course the scent of his new mate won’t leave him, just the extras will be able to be washed away.

 

That really was a good mating session, quite  _ filling _ if he said so himself.

 

Should he wait for his mate to catch up? the others would pretty much come with him, but his brother was close, so if he got into trouble, he knew it wouldn’t be for long.

 

He was waiting for two people from different sides, guess he would have to stay here until both come. As much as he has an awful mate who trapped and starved him, he heard worst stories on how mates came together, this wasn’t the worst.

 

-

 

They got the horses, Hearth was making them go as fast as they can, not as fast as his old horses, amen to them. But it got the job done, all he wants now is to forget the odd look he got for buying the horses back. Cursing Death for doing this  _ after  _ they sold the horses.

  
  


“WHY WOULD DEATH... GIVE YOU THE DEER???” Papyrus asked as him and Sans were sitting in the carriage. They didn’t have an exact plan where the demon would be, so they were going back to where they’d last seen him and then follow the direction they’d watched him flee to. But the horses were much slower than the ones before, dragging the ride out for far too long.

 

Papyrus looked at Sans like he was trying to seem innocent and curious, but in reality looked… tired. Tired and maybe a bit hurt. He had spent a lot of time trying to win Death’s trust. And yes, he had broken it again, but… he just didn’t quite understand how  _ Sans  _ got to get this kind of treatment, after all this time Papyrus had tried to get his trust back again.

 

“...i think he thinks i’m… no. i  _ am _ his mate,” Sans muttered, a hand palming a bit over his eye sockets. He never quite thought about what kind of  _ consequences _ this would have. When he fucked Death, it was to relieve their heat. It was just following urges and pleasure. He didn’t mean to  _ commit _ to something like being a demon’s mate. Even when he bit down, when he  _ marked _ Death as his, Sans wasn’t sure what overcame him to do this.

 

But even not, after the heat was almost completely gone, after he had time to think about what happened. When he saw Death, when he saw the mark on his neck, it had felt  _ good. _ It had felt  _ right. _ Like he  _ wanted _ everyone to know Death was his.

 

...and he was Death’s.

 

Papyrus yelped surprised when the carriage came to a sudden halt, Sans straightening. “are we there?” He asked hurriedly. “did they find death?” He quickly jumped out of the carriage wagon, looking around for Death. But what he saw, what Papyrus saw a bit after him, was a wide stream, strings of red mixed into the water, tinting the rest of it into a light pink.

 

“That was him,” Grillby said, before leading the horses to move again. Papyrus quickly grabbed onto the carriage, then Sans’ hand, pulling both of them in as they were going up stream.

  
  


By the time Death heard a carriage nearby, and the smell of his mate, he was mostly done with his bath. He had cleaned as much as he could, now just sitting with his head to the sky, mouth as wide as it can go, letting little birds come and pick at his teeth, taking out anything he wasn’t able to with his claws, cleaning his mouth from any bacteria. He only opened a socket half way when he heard footsteps, he closed it back up in boredom and didn’t move.

 

The birds weren’t done cleaning his teeth yet. 

 

The others ran into the clearing where the stream was on his left, when he knew they could see him, he snapped his left socket open, just so they know he was listening and he  _ knew  _ they were there. But otherwise, did nothing.

 

Hearth sighed when they found Death just sitting there, oddlying enough Death wasn’t killing the birds, nor were the birds flying away in fright. Instead they were hopping in his mouth, picking at between his teeth, a lot like he seen them do to crocodile’s or alligator’s teeth when they leave their mouth opened.

  
  


Papyrus had already stormed out of the carriage, happy to have still managed to find Death. He came to a halt at the edge of the stream, Sans quick to follow, giving Death a small, awkward wave, like he wasn’t quite sure what to be doing.

 

“Sans!  _ Now! _ ” Grillby called over, the warlock glancing at him surprised for a moment, before he remembered. He quickly grabbed for his staff, pointing it at Death with regret in his soul.

 

“ _ ‘m sorry _ , death!” He didn’t want to have to do this again.

  
  


Death stiffened, but reacted quickly, spitting out the birds from his mouth, jumping to the side before hopping into the air, letting his wings take him up a few feet before slamming into Sans, kicking his staff away as he landed on him. His claws grabbed hold of Sans and lifted him up, taking them both into the air.

 

Once Death was in the air with his wimpy new mate, he started to fly towards east, there was a cave he saw while flying to the stream, it was on a hill and very quiet.

 

He looked at Sans in his arms, noticing a small scratch on his cheek. Well Sans healed him. Death bent down to lick at the wound softly, letting his magic take care of it. If Sans can heal him, well so can he dammit!

  
  


“SANS!!!” Papyrus was screeching after them panicked, trying to catch them with his magic unsuccessfully. Grillby cursed, he fires a sword after Death, trying to catch them out of the air, but they were already too high up by the time he reacted.

 

“NO!!!  _ SANS! _ ”

 

Sans was panicking. Sans was  _ freaking out. _ Even after Death licked him, the motion confusing, making him feel warm both from his own blushing face but also from the healing magic. But it didn’t do much to calm his nerves from the situation going on right now.

 

He was _in the air,_ _without his staff,_ captured by a fucking _demon!_ “c-c’mon death!” He stammered out. “this isn’t funny! bring us back, _please!_ ”

  
  


“gonna lock me up! don’ wan’ dat ‘gain!” Death mourned, holding Sans tight as he glided down, already reaching the cave with his fast wings. “shush wimpy mate, bra’der is close.” Even when they reached the cave, he angled himself so he would glide right into the cave, having it big enough for his wing span. 

  
  


Sans wanted to complain. Wanted to say he  _ didn’t  _ want to lock him up. Didn’t want to lock him up  _ again _ . But he kept quiet in the end. Because, yes. He  _ would have _ locked him up again. That’s exactly what they were planning, whether  _ Sans _ wanted it or not. It would’ve happened.

 

Plus, maybe he was listening a great bit more, because he was terrified of that ‘brother’ threat. He had been terrified of Death’s sibling this whole time, if they were actually close now, if they would find Hearth or Grillby or-

  
Sans gasped, eyes wide as he suddenly struggled in Death’s hold. “i have to find papyrus!”  He screamed. “i have to make sure he’s safe!”

  
  


“bra’der ‘s af’der  _ ya,  _ ya were ‘n my cave dat day, o’der bra’der fine.” He laid Sans down, flopping on top of him once Sans was securely on the ground. “see elbows.” Death commanded, nudging Sans arms up, the glump Death did not that long ago must have scraped his elbows when he fell, might as well take care of that too.

  
  


Sans’ eyes were wide as Death was on top of him, but oddly enough he… he wasn’t scared Death would hurt him. Instead he obeyed, pulling off his long gloves to give Death access to his elbows.

  
  


Death went to work with the elbows, giving quick kitten licks to each one until there was nothing to heal. “anywhere else?” Glancing at Sans while licking the last bit of the wound away.

  
  


The healing was relaxing, Sans had found out. Sure, the small licks might not be delivering too much magic at once, and neither has he ever been healed by anyone else. But the warmth that was spreading from the bit of the magic, the way it took pain and soreness off of him that he hadn’t even realizes was there.

 

Sans found himself placing his arms around Death, careful, barely there, his sockets slowly seeming to close until his eyes were half lid.

 

“...don’ thin’ so,” he slurred out.

  
  


Death hummed, laying his head on Sans chest, “yer a bad wimpy mate, bu’ mate ei’der way.” His paw went up to play with the loose fabric of his hood that was pooling on his shoulders, almost the same way he did to Papyrus’ rope strings. Leaning in a bit to give a few licks to Sans’ cheek. 

  
  


Sans was humming when Death suddenly went to lay on him, when he suddenly began playing with the fabric of his hood. Okay. Okay, he somewhat understood now why Papyrus had been so close to him before things happened.

 

This felt really comfortable. Warm and content, with the licks on Sans’ cheeks almost lulling him to sleep. 

 

“‘m not wimpy…” He muttered quietly, but there was no venom or anything in his voice. It sounded like he was simply making an observation. “grillby said ‘m a powerful warlock…”

  
  


Death snorted, but said nothing, only continued to groom his new mate, his brother should be here really soon, might as well clean him to present him to his brother. 

 

A mighty roar came from out the cave, miles away, but even if it was far away, you can still hear it so clearly from miles. It was high pitch and very animalistic, the distorted tone that came with it didn’t help on making it sound friendly, nor how loud and fierce it could roar from. Death gasped, jumping off Sans to scramble to the entrance. “bra’der!” Leaving Sans to get up on his own.

  
  


Sans huffed, getting up and following Death anxiously. He was tired, but felt so much more rested than he had in a long while. “is…” Sans voice was quiet, barely over an afraid whisper. It  _ was _ an afraid whisper. “is he… gonna kill me…?”

  
  


Death shook his head, walking on his hind legs, he moved his torn shirt to reveal the mark Sans made on his shoulder, Death tapped it with a claw to bring his point across even more. He went behind Sans to push him out the cave, looking at the way they came from to see if he could spot his brother’s approach. 

  
  


Sans walked out of the cave reluctantly, not exactly feeling safe with the threat of a  _ demon brother _ being on the hunt for him, even if Death had said he wouldn’t kill him. But he… glanced at the mark he had left, gently running a hand over it, over Death’s shoulder, before pulling it back again.

 

He couldn’t let his possessiveness get the overhand of him right now, there were more urgent things to focus on.

 

“...what ‘bout the others?” He asked. “what about paps? ‘s he gonna…. gonna kill  _ ‘em? _ ”

  
  


Death paused, he had already turned to Sans the moment he felt him touching his shoulder, his mark, his ownership to him. He shrugged, he really didn’t know, he didn’t hear this from other demons, so he had no idea. Not even sure what his brother will think either, since he is on rampage to get to him in the first place, it would be better if they found his brother first before the others.

  
  


Sans stayed quiet when Death simply shrugged, staying close to the demon. He didn’t know. He didn’t know whether Sans’ little brother would live or not. Whether he would be spared, or killed while Sans got to be the only one surviving.

 

“...please…” he muttered quietly, not sure what or who he was pleading to. What was Death supposed to do about it?  _ If _ he even did anything about it? He wasn’t his brother,  _ he _ wasn’t the demon Sans was threatened with they’re going to kill him.

 

He… He had to wait until Death’s brother actually shows up.

  
  


“i could… tell em ner?” Death struggled to figure something out, until he did, a light bulb might might as well have appeared over his head if it could, then the demon grew more excited then. “a deal. ya all won’ trap me ‘nd my bro, ‘nd we won’ kill any of ya?” Death grinned, pulling Sans close so he could look him in the eye sockets.

 

“deal?”

  
  


Sans eyes widened. He didn’t want to trap him anymore anyways, didn’t want to have to lose his trust  _ again. _ But if he didn’t, if they didn’t do something about the demon, then… he, probably  _ they, _ would kill everything in sight aside from their little squad.

 

Was that fair?

 

Absolutely not.

  
...Was it something Sans was willing to sacrifice, in order to protect his brother?   
  
He nodded, his voice quiet when he said, “ok… deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	11. Reaper

Death giggled, already hugging Sans, “ger’d choice, ger’d timin’ ta~” Death let go to point from afar, walking to the edge of the hill top to see something ramming down the trees in a line.

 

From their point of view, something unknown was running through the forest, knocking every single tree in it’s way, leaving a big path of torn down trees, chaos, and any bodies that stood in it’s way.

  


Sans gasped at the loud noises, the path of destruction, almost hiding behind his mate in fear, yet hoping it wasn’t too obvious. He was praying Death was right. Praying his brother wouldn’t kill him. Praying he could stop him from killing the others. Because _that thing…_ It was _big._

  


Death squealed, the idea of _just_ being able to see his brother again was so amazing, it almost made the whole kidnapping ordeal worth it, _almost_. But now he will see his brother again! Already hopping from one foot to another like a kid getting a sweet treat, tail wagging faster than any dog could, wings only beating to make his hops longer, with his hands in the air like he were to catch something.

 

The little dance was kind of silly and childish, something little kids will laugh at and cheer for more. You can call it Death’s little happy dance if you notice he only does this when he is excited or happy.

  


And Sans watched him do his happy dance, surprised and confused. Struggling to figure out what to focus on, because the demon’s brother was approaching, large and powerful and terrifying, instinct demanding all of Sans’ attention. But his mate was right next to him happy and excited, and Sans couldn’t say he was with the demon just yet on that front, but the little dance almost made him chuckle anyway.

 

Almost.

 

Had he not been so much on the edge as well.

  


Death jumped on top of a rock, on his hands and hind legs once again, before breathing in to let out a mighty roar, a strong sound that went for miles, it was more higher pitch and more… smaller? It had a tone to it that made you think this screech was _younger_. Not as powerful as the one before it.

 

But Death didn’t do that to compete, he did it to _lead_. And that is what happened, the force that was pushing down trees like nothing changed course, turning til it was coming straight at them.

 

Death giggled lightly as he watched his brother come near, turning to Sans. In his excitement to finally seeing his brother again, grooming his mate for his brother’s arrival, and down right escaping capture.

 

He completely forgot there was a collar around his neck, the leash snapped off by sheer force. That, was something his brother will notice right away, and he won’t be happy _one bit._

 

Death’s brother disappeared from view, since they were now on a mountain, his brother must be climbing it, just out of their vision, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hear him. He was coming up fast, like his life depended on it.

 

Not that long after, a huge claw came from the edge of the mountain edge, the hand pulling a body up. It was huge, a big skeleton demon pulled itself up into the open, it’s big wings flapping to make getting up easier, the tail so long that it would be as long as three and a half full sized men, the horns on it’s head were bigger and more jagged.

 

It wore only shorts, no shirt to hide the big ribcage, big enough for Death to climb in. The demon could be taller than Hearth, by two heads taller, maybe even a half more. The teeth were beyond sharp, also having the animalistic hind legs just like his brother.

 

But what really stuck out was his claws, they were long, long and sharp, they looked like individual scythe blades, as long as four inches long, they looked like instant death. If one were to hear the rumor of this demon, they will all talk about calling this demon _Reaper_.

 

Because their claws from it’s hands and feet were like mini scythes of the weapon of the god.

  


Sans’ hands went to his belt, fingers hovering over the potions, yet not reaching for one yet. He didn’t even think his potions could _do_ anything to a creature this big and powerful. To Death? Maybe. He was shorter than Sans himself, he was a _demon,_ and probably not a weak one, but he was _still_ not at strong as the creature Sans suddenly saw before him, towering and _terrifying._

 

Sans realized now that his fear of ‘Death’s sibling’ had been justified. No, not even, it had been underrated even. Had Sans realized the demon that was after them was _this_ beast, he didn’t think he would’ve taken Death with him for another day.

 

Sans’ back hit a wall, and he realized he’d been backing up, slowly, eyes never leaving the demon. His hands were trying to hold onto _something,_ a weapon, his _staff,_ but he had nothing but two more green potions, a yellow and one white potion to kill, though it hadn’t even managed to kill Death.

 

Which he found himself glad by now, because Death was the only thing that could protect him from _this_ right now.

  


Death made a sound that can only be described as an excited demonic screech before glomping his Reaper. Since Reaper was standing on the very edge of the decline, not having been expecting Death coming out of nowhere, with the force the two demons were tilted back until they fell, Reaper letting out a yelp before they fell.

 

Thankfully Reaper pulled them back up before they got to far down, flapping his wings until they landed back at the entrance of the cave. This time Reaper didn’t waste a second to hold Death close, orange tears even started to stream down his face as he spinned both of them around.

 

Death was laughing like a lunatic, cyan tears spilling from his face as he held his brother, getting as many licks as he could, letting his brother completely cover him in his saliva. His brother always did have a bigger tongue, but Death didn’t mind now, right now it made him feel so loved at the moment.

 

By the time Reaper put him down gently, he was attacked by the orange tongue again, this time he could hear his brother speak. ‘MISSED YOU, LOVE YOU, WORRIED, THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD, NEVER AGAIN!’ this made Death feel guilty, his poor brother had to suffer to rescue him.

 

‘ya did good.’ Death clicked, holding his brother’s head tight as Reaper curled up around Death, like he was protecting him from anymore danger.

  


Sans stayed quiet as he watched the two, terrified of getting the attention onto himself. They seemed… happy to be reunited. Happier than Sans would have expected, though it made sense… He had barely been away from Papyrus for some hours, and Sans was already worried sick, wanting nothing else but to be with him again.

 

Maybe, maybe if he stayed quiet enough, Sans could sneak away. He _had_ made a deal with Death that he wasn’t going to trap them, and they wouldn’t kill them. So it would be all fine, right? He was no longer needed to be here and Sans couldn’t do anything about the two demons anyway.

 

So Sans did, moving away ever so slightly, ever so quietly, keeping his eyes fixed on the two demons in case they decided to strike after all.

  


Death noticed immediately when his mate started to move away, looking at him with a questionable look, a hint of hurt mixed in his expression. He didn’t say anything, didn’t stop Sans, didn't motion him over, he only looked as his mate was starting to leave him. Right when he finally met his brother, when he groomed him, when he was extra nice to Sans so he would be on good terms with him when his brother comes.

 

Sans can leave anytime he wanted, but he thought…. they were going to talk with his brother together…

 

Death turned away, curling into his brother as he frowned, not looking as excited anymore. Thankfully Reaper didn’t notice Death’s change of mood yet since he was more focused on the fact that he was _here,_ he found his brother and he was _alive_ ! _Safe_ in his arms once again!

  


Sans’ soul complained when he saw the look Death gave him. But what was Sans supposed to _do?_ Stay here for the demon and risk his brother being alone? Maybe in danger? He couldn’t watch over Papyrus from here, couldn’t make sure he was safe and protect him.

 

But Death looked _hurt._ Not angry or aggressive, not threatening or frustrated. _Hurt._ And he wasn’t _stopping_ him either, which just about made Sans feel even more trashy.

 

He sighed, arms crossing as he couldn’t quite believe throwing away his chance on sneaking away, to spare the feelings of his mate- _demon._

 

“d...death?” Sans stammered out nervously. If he wasn’t going to sneak away he could at least explain himself, hope the demon would _understand._ “i- i need to find my brother…”

  


Reaper sharply turned to glare at Sans, his body going rigid, growl low and dark. It didn’t last long though, Death wiggled out of his grasp to run over to Sans, when close enough he got on his hind legs and wrapped his arms around Sans. “we take ya.”

 

Death pushed Sans to his brother, Reaper glaring down at Sans like he was ant, until he heard his brother’s words. “mate!”

 

Reaper made a squawking noise once the word processed into his brain, “WHAT!!!?!?!”

 

Death moved his shirt sleeve to show the the brand new mark on his shoulder, almost laughing at his brother’s bulging eyes. “WHAT!?!”

 

Reaper reached over to Death to see the mark, examining it, smelling it. Before looking at Sans, his stare hard, sniffing him from afar. “....”

  


Sans was rigid, eyes wide and terrified as the demon’s brother glared him down. Was he angry? Was this okay?! Sans wasn’t a demon, not really, he had no idea how demon culture and mating worked, would he have to fight for dominance? Put on some display?

 

He had acted on instinct before, putting him in this situation in the first place, why couldn’t the same damn instinct give him an idea on what to do _now!?_

  


Reaper huffed, moving until his back was to Sans, sitting down and ignoring Sans with sass dripping from every movement, he looked at his brother, at the mark, but his gaze wondered. He suddenly growled at Death, or more like, his neck.

 

One claw went to Death’s neck, the sharp claw going under the collar to pull Death closer. “ **_W H O . . . ?_ ** ” his voice deadly and dark, like he was ready for a massacre, letting everyone know that this demon is someone you _don’t_ want to mess with.

 

But only getting a shrug in return. “gone.”

  


Sans sighed as Death didn’t give away Hearth as the one to put the collar on him. Maybe he really was going to protect them from his brother’s wrath, which would be just fine by Sans, considering he was the one to put Death in shackles, and the demon’s brother’s voice was already terrifying just after finding the _collar._ Something he could probably tear off with no problem.

  


And true to Sans’ suspicions, Reaper ripped the collar off with no effort, getting a grin from Death, the smaller demon going up to him to give him a thankful lick. “new bra’der, le’s meet ‘em.” Holding his paw out to Sans while his other was pushing Reaper’s wing down, the bigger demon bending down to let Death on, already looking at Sans too, waiting for him.

  


Sans was taken aback by all this, by _all_ of it. Had… Had Death just called Papyrus his… new brother? Was he going to have to have to _sit_ on that gigantic beast!? He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to get anywhere _close_ to it, let alone climb on his back!

  


Death frowned, getting off his brother to push Sans on his brother’s back with a bored expression, letting Sans face plant onto his brother’s back. Reaper letting a smirk form on his face at his brother’s new mate.

 

Death got on right after, holding onto Sans and one of his brother’s horns. Reaper spread his wings. “NAME?” Looking at Sans.

 

“wimpy mate.” Death answered.

 

“AH, FITTING…” Reaper mused, lifting off, following Death’s finger to where to go.

  


Sans’ gasp was scared when the demon’s brother suddenly lifted off, his hands holding onto Death rather than the other demon. But he still managed to frown a bit at the name. It wasn’t his fault he was scared, _anyone_ would be facing two demons like that with no weapons or staff!

 

“‘s sans,” he said lowly under his breath, not sure if they would even catch on it.

  


Reaper didn’t take long to spot two flames, and another skeleton, before diving down to them. Landing hard on the ground in front of them, staring at them with a piercing gaze.

 

Hearth froze when something just crashed in front of them while they were running, well not really crash, _landed_ in front of them. A _huge_ demon skeleton, something on his back, yet he couldn’t see it from his angle, but oh dear lord. This demon…

 

This is a demon that every priest turns away and says “nope” to. The one only the bravest priest would go up against, only a few even coming back at all, succeeding or not.

  


Grillby hissed under his breath, already drawing his swords as the demon landed before him, pushing Papyrus to hide behind the two priests. If they really were to fight this demon, he doubted they would win. It was radiating off immense strength, if the size wasn’t already everything to go by.

 

But he stopped, eyes wide and surprised as he heard Sans call, “ _stop!_ don’t hurt him!” And before Grillby could even quite figure out what was really happening, Papyrus was already running past them with a screech, up to the demon and hugging whatever part he could reach.

 

“BROTHER!!! YOU TURNED INTO A DEMON!”

  


Reaper backed away from the monster, confused and a little uncomfortable. He was a demon that killed anything in sight, he doesn’t get hugs out of nowhere like that! Death popped into view besides Reaper’s head, his arms around Reaper’s head. “bra’der!” Motioning to Reaper just in case they haven’t figured it out.

  


“OH! DEATH.” Papyrus chirped surprised, though there was a hint of resentment in his voice for taking away his brother like that. But Sans was quick to follow, jumping off the large demon’s back to run to Papyrus, pulling him into a tight hug and slightly away from Death’s brother.

 

“BROTHER!!!” Papyrus said, again surprised, but more happy so. “YOU _DIDN’T_ TURN INTO A DEMON!”

 

“i didn’t,” Sans confirmed, holding Papyrus close and tight, terrified of losing him again. And Papyrus held him back, equally tight. “oh god, y’re ok. _you’re ok._ ”  
  
“OF COURSE I AM!!!” Papyrus assured him, voice sounding like it was the most obvious thing. But he pulled away enough from the hug to look at Sans, smiling down at his older brother relieved. “WHAT ABOUT YOU??? DID YOU GET HURT?”

 

Sans shook his head, burying his face into his brother’s chest. “‘m fine,” he breathed out. “‘m good.” He moved a bit away again, still keeping his hands on Papyrus, though. He only paid the priests enough attention of a quick glance, before turning back to the large demon.

 

“tha’s, uh… ‘s… death’s brother,” he said, Papyrus eyes widening surprised.

 

“OH!” He said, before turning towards the large demon. “HELLO DEATH’S BROTHER!!! I’M PAPYRUS. SORRY FOR HUGGING YOU LIKE THAT, I THOUGHT YOU WERE _MY_ BROTHER…”

  


Reaper backed away, he only glanced at Papyrus twice before growling at the two priest that had their weapons out and drawn at them, Death tensing on his back, glancing at Sans for help, to tell them about the deal. Reaper’s wings furled out to make him bigger, his sharp teeth shining as he opened them, orange saliva sticking to the top row to the bottom.

 

Hearth tighten his hold on his morning star, ready to swing until his last breath. “Stay back, or we will kill you.”

 

Reaper seemed to narrow his vision to the flames, somehow looking a lot more deadly now that he was threatened.

  


“no, _stop!_ ” Sans said quickly turning to the two priests, arms outstretched.

 

Grillby was tense, his grip on his swords firm and ready to swing. He glanced at Sans. “What do you mean?” He said, his voice grave. “Sans, get away from the demons before _they take you again!_ ”

 

“wait!” Sans said, stopping Grillby as he was already moving closer to the demons, preparing to strike. “no, wait! i promised we wouldn’ capture ‘em again i-in exchange for _them_ not killing us. don’t hurt ‘em, you stand _no chance!_ ”

  


Hearth’s eyes darted to Sans for a moment, “You made a deal with a demon! Are you fucking crazy?!?” It was like Hearth thought Sans lost it, and maybe he had, something could have happened to him that would make Sans change his mind. Hell, even Sans liking Death at all could be a trick from Death, _this whole thing with Death having feelings could be a trick_. Death making them think he felt something just to get pity, then strike when your guard was down.

 

“Get back Sans, you will be freed from the demon’s control once we beat this menace.” He declared, glaring at the huge demon in the face, showing no fear.

 

It was like a shadow washed over Death’s features, a paw going to Reaper’s shoulder to get his attention. “jus’…. le’s go? nah worth our time….”

 

Well he should of expected this, Sans couldn’t have spoken for all of them, and clearly they all would gladly go against them. And no one could really blame them, they just saw Death go on a murder spree, and they could only think worse of his brother…

 

Was this really worth it?

 

They all looked more interested in killing them more than capturing them now. He thought Grillby was at least nicer than this, but he was the first to attack back then with the loud human boy, now he has his swords aimed at him and his brother even when Sans said no.

 

Hearth wasn’t much a surprise to him, he already knew that guy was an idiot. But Papyrus had a tone to his voice when he saw Death again too. Why was he really staying here?

 

For Sans? Maybe.

 

But is it worth being with all this hate, and them trying to stop them when they hunt, or judge, or even find pleasure in capturing them.

 

No.

 

They were going to let them live, as a goodbye.

 

Reaper sensed something shift in Death, making the big demon back away from the other monsters, his wings starting to flap to take them away. Death has been with these monsters more than he has, he will follow his brother's command with no questions asked.

 

Reaper’s wings beat hard, lifting them off and into the sky, Death didn’t look back at anyone of them as his brother carried him away, before heading to the west, heading to the hotter parts of the land.

 

 _‘so much fer da deal…_ ’ Death clicked grumpily, looking ahead to find their new home.

  


“ _Fuck!_ ” Grillby hissed, trying to stop them by throwing his blade after them, but Sans caught Grillby’s arm, holding him back.

 

“that’s my _mate!_ ” He practically growled, glowering up at the priest.

 

“Your _mate_ is getting away!” Grillby argued, but he was being ganged up to by Papyrus too now.

 

“LET THEM _GO_ ,” the younger skeleton insisted. “WE SURVIVED, DEATH SURVIVED. LET HIM BE FREE, MAYBE HE CAN FINALLY…” He pauses, not sure what to tell them. Maybe he can finally heal? Find peace? He wasn’t sure. He just knew that Death got back to his brother and that being free and with him was better than being their captive.

 

Sans let go of the elemental’s hand once the flame seemed to relax, taking Papyrus’ hand and going towards the carriage to get their bags. “let’s go, paps.”

  


Hearth stared off at the two demons quickly leaving, already too far away to even catch up to them. Once they were not in view anymore, he looked back to the skeletons, who were headed to the carriage.

 

What now?

 

The demon was the one everyone was traveling with, they only traveled together for reasons related to the demon. Now it was gone, and it left a big empty hole.

 

This wasn’t the same. Everyone knew it wouldn’t be, there was someone missing from the group they have started. Now it just was this…. bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

 

“Brother?” Hearth asked, looking at Grillby for some kind of direction, anything really.

  


“...We should probably go home,” Grillby said, his tone quiet, He followed after Sans and Papyrus to the carriage, already seeing the two skeletons get their bags and prepare to leave.

  
“ARE WE NOT GOING TO TAKE THE CARRIAGE???” Papyrus asked a bit hesitantly, a bit sad.

 

“‘s not ours,” Sans replied somberly. “priests’ll probably be leavin’. only stayed cause a death.”  
  
“OH?” Papyrus asked, glancing at the two approaching flames. Grillby didn’t look at him, or either of them.

 

He didn’t want this to be a goodbye. But he also couldn’t be traveling around nowhere forever. Him and Hearth, they weren’t part of those two skeleton’s lives. They had forced their way into it because of Death, and now it was their time to leave them back to it.

  


Hearth didn’t say anything. Yeah, makes sense, he was here for the demon, now it is gone, so there is no reason to stay with the skeletons anymore. “Alright.”

 

They got to face their parents either way, better now than never.

 

-

 

So Sans and Papyrus continued their journey, without the priests now, trying to find their luck somewhere. They didn't have a demon to hide anymore, so when they reached the next town after some days they could actually pay a place for them to stay at for the night. And then two nights. And then another, until Papyrus had to urge Sans that they should keep going.

 

And they did.

 

They didn’t have a direction anymore. The next closest town was a small village, and Sans ended up deciding it wouldn’t be worth their effort. Instead they took a detour to a bigger town. It’d be some weeks away, but they still had enough food to last.

 

In fact, they suddenly lasted a lot longer than expected, Sans realized after a week. It was because they didn’t have a third mouth to feed anymore, they didn’t have Death to feed anymore. He knew he should be… glad. It was a good thing. It meant more food, but… in the end it just made both the skeletons feel emptier than before.

 

Sans had a hard time moving on after they had made a camp somewhere. He found himself staring back at where they came from, staring at where they’ve last seen the demons, nervous and fidgety.

 

But they kept going. And going. Until going got exhausting. Until they reached the town they were heading to, and there was no kind of feeling of relief. Of success. They simply got a small place to stay at for the night, restocked on food and spent the rest in the hut. Sans was lying on the small, uncomfortable bed, Papyrus sitting on the foot of it.

 

“I KNOW YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT,” the younger brother said, “BUT I THINK IT’S… TIME TO GO HOME…”

 

They hadn’t talked about this. About going home. Ever since they left, it’s been only going forward, never back, and they both had never had an idea when they  _ would _ go back.

 

But suddenly Sans felt like Papyrus might be right. They wouldn’t find their luck out here. Or in the next town or the town after that. Traveling was just… a hassle by now. Something to busy their life, without purpose, without any goals or anything to look forward to.

 

It held nothing for them anymore.

 

Sans closed his eyes. He sighed.

 

“let’s go home…”


	12. guards fear sans' mood swings

Hearth let out a shaky breath, looking at the ruins that he once called home, at one point needing to lean in to a building as they finally saw the church.

 

It was in shambles, nothing left but destruction and death, the church had dust in the main chapel, or where it once was.

 

Hearth couldn’t even breathe at one point, his whole home, that he grown up with, is gone. They couldn’t see anyone trying to find their family, no one there to pick up their home, no one to scream for help, it was quiet. They were all gone. And so were his parents.

 

The flame had many thoughts going through his head, one that the last thing he did with his parents was argue, the next was that was the last time he would be in the church, and that was the last time walking those streets with the people he grew up with. Everyone that lived there, everyone he once known, not even a sight of them, only what once was their homes.

  
  


Grillby couldn’t believe it. He had lost everything and everyone in his life but his brother. Left for barely a week or two and he came back to everything being _gone._ _Destroyed._

 

Why? Why did this happen? Because him and Hearth had abandoned their hometown, their parents, to travel with some children and a demon? Was this god’s punishment for their sins? Their betrayal?

 

No. This wasn’t,  _ couldn’t _ have been god’s work. If god wanted to punish him he would’ve killed  _ him, _ not hundreds of innocent people.  _ They _ didn’t deserve to die.

 

His swords were dragging over the church floor, originally drawn in case the beast that had done this damage was still there. But by now Grillby just didn’t find the strength in him to place them back.

 

They’re gone. Everything was. Their town. Their parents. Their church. Even the demon they had picked over their hometown, the skeletons with him, even they were gone now. Moved on to their own life, expecting Hearth and Grillby to do the same.

 

Except… their life was  _ gone. _

 

-

 

Reaper glanced back to look at Death’s face, but he couldn’t really see it from this position, his brother was on his back, staring holes into his own back. In the end the bigger demon crooned at him, asking what was wrong. He thought his brother will be overjoyed to be free, with him again. Yes without his mate, but was that really all he was sad about? They are bound to meet again, they were mates, of course they will cross paths again one day.

 

But Death just cooed softly, laying on his brother's bony back, looking ahead to where they were going.

 

It was becoming hotter and hotter by the hour, soon they will have to stop and rest, get something to eat, water, the normal sort of thing.

 

Of course Death was happy, he was oh so happy to be free, to actually be able to stretch with bigger space, or not having to rely on someone else for food, or even protect when he couldn’t even stand to his full height.

 

But he liked Papyrus, he was always nice, yes he kept him locked up, but Death sees that it hurt him as much as it hurt Death. He still hated how Sans treated him, and generally he didn’t have a reason to like Sans, it was just he was his mate now, and instincts drove that part of his life.

 

The grooming, the licks, even bothering healing him! It was all instinct, and he was sure the same could be said to Sans, his protectiveness and slight possessiveness. 

 

Reaper cooed at him to get his attention, they just made it to a new town, a new home.

 

Good.

 

He was hungry.

 

-

 

It’s been another week and then some until Sans and Papyrus reached the spot they had last seen the demons at. And neither of them were saying anything, but they could both tell it was doing something to Sans, the skeleton looking around nervously, like he was expecting to find the demon any moment. He didn’t. Neither of them did. The demons were long gone.

 

And the demons wasn’t the only thing that was gone, it seemed.

 

By the time they had reached the town they had been at not too long ago, Sans was holding onto Papyrus’ hand tight. It was  _ completely _ in shambles. The streets looked abandoned, empty, like every single person here was dead. Where once the market has been were now broken down stands, rotten food, broken equipment.

 

But one thing was still there. Or there again, Sans figured. It was the same carriage they had traveled in with the priests, the horses in the stables not too far from it.

 

Sans was quiet as he took the horses from their stables, the animals not complaining as they still seemed to recognize Sans and Papyrus. He attached them to the carriage, already tossing his bags into it, before motioning Papyrus to do the same and get in. Papyrus didn’t.

 

“what’s wrong?” Sans asked, confused and surprised.

 

“BROTHER, WE CAN’T DO THIS!” The younger skeleton complained, his frown up to Sans on the carriage was sad. “THEY’VE LOST  _ EVERYTHING _ . WE CAN’T STEAL THEIR CARRIAGE!”

 

“well… ‘s  _ our _ horses,” Sans countered. “le’ me at least take the horses.”

 

“AT LEAST  _ ASK _ THEM FIRST,” Papyrus said, looking at Sans sternly, like he wasn’t going to budge with this. Sans sighed.

  
“fine,” he said, before taking Papyrus’ offered hand and walking towards the church’s gates. He used the door knocker, knocking a handful of times, before waiting for someone to react.

  
  


Hearth pushed the broken door to the side, ignoring the many deep long claw marks all over the door and almost every surface. “It’s… you two…”

 

He hasn’t seen them in a while, and thought he never will ever again. Hell he didn’t even expect to see anyone here for a long while, just his brother and him. All alone. 

  
  


Sans glanced at the priest, the elemental suddenly looking weary and tired. “HELLO HEARTH!” Papyrus said instead of Sans, giving him a small hand wave. “WHERE’S GRILLBY?”

 

“I’m here,” the other elemental spoke, slowly approaching from one of the side towers of the church. “What… brings you here? Weren’t you planning on traveling further…?”

 

“WE’RE GOING HOME!!!” Papyrus told them excitedly.

  
“we wan’ our horses back,” Sans told them efficiently.

  
“WE’D  _ LIKE _ OUR HORSES BACK IF THAT’S  _ OKAY, _ ” Papyrus corrected politely.

  
  


“Oh… take them, I don’t care.” Losing one’s home makes them have this sort of… apathy. Thinking everything you loved is gone, nothing to look forward to, having many regrets. It all becomes so much that… things don’t matter. You don’t care about things you did before, or things you should be worried about, until you stop caring for yourself, and die.

  
  


“great,” Sans said, already moving to turn away. “let’s go.”

 

But Papyrus didn’t budge. He stood his ground, looking over the two priests, broken and apathetic after losing everything. He couldn’t leave them like that. Couldn’t leave them alone by themselves in the town everyone they knew died.

  
“YOU CAN COME WITH US!” He suggested, Sans halting his movements.

 

“they can what?”

 

“COME WITH US!!!” Papyrus repeated happily. “WHY NOT? I’M SURE THERE’S PLACES AT HOME FOR THEM TO STAY AT!”

  
  


Hearth stared down at Papyrus with his eyes slightly opening a little. “Why would you want us to come with you?” And really, why would they? The demon was gone, they had no relationship besides the demon, who was gone. 

 

“WELL, IT’S KIND OF… LONELY HERE, ISN’T IT???” He asked, trying to not make it sound rude.

 

“It’s our  _ home, _ Papyrus,” Grillby replied, unamused.

 

Sans sighed, his hold on Papyrus’ hand tightening, before he turned around again. “yea, an’ everyone’s gone,” he replied harsher. “what’re you plannin’ to do? eat the rotten food from the market?  _ that’s _ gonna turn out great. y’ can’t stay here.”

  
  


Hearth looked at his brother a bit hopelessly, they were right, they can’t live here, they can’t survive here. Grillby was way better at making decisions than him, at least his doesn’t cause them to leave their home and never see it how it was supposed to be again.

 

No. Grillby will decide. Hearth has done so much damage already. He bought a demon, angered it’s brother, almost raped it, chained it, left home, dragging his brother along, and just being his stupid self like he always is.

 

He doesn’t have a right to choose what their future will be, Grillby was always the better one anyways.

  
  


Grillby glared down at the skeleton, unbelieving at how rude he was being. But… he  _ did _ have a point. Hearth and him had to leave the town  _ eventually. _ And they didn’t know where to go, didn’t know who to go to.

 

Those skeletons were, aside from the demons, the only people that they really still knew. At least they were the only ones they even remotely knew of where they  _ were _ .

 

“Where… would we be going?” Grillby still asked a bit warily.

 

“southern kingdom,” Sans replied, Papyrus nodding eagerly. 

 

“YOU KNOW!!! AT THE CASTLE?”

 

Grillby’s eyes narrowed a little. Why would they leave the town in the first place, then? The castle town was supposedly one of the safest you could get to, protected by the Great Sorcerer of the South under the hand of the king and queen themselves.

  
  


Hearth looked at the skeletons in his slumped position, the same thoughts running through his head. “Why would you leave there in the first place?” It wasn’t often you meet people from the south, usually people wanted to get  _ in _ , and you meet them there. But to meet a southerner out here, from the castle, almost unheard of.

  
  


“WE’D JUST THOUGHT WE MIGHT FIND OUT LUCK OUT THERE!” Papyrus replied innocently. Sans didn’t stop or correct him. He wasn’t  _ wrong. _ It just wasn’t really the reason why they left. Why Sans left. 

 

“COME ON!!! LET’S GO!” Papyrus was already walking back towards the carriages, Sans hanging back for a bit, before making a head motion at the flames to follow.

 

Grillby decided he… might as well. They had nowhere else to go. And if they really could get to stay at the southern kingdom it… sounded like a dream, almost.

  
  


Hearth followed his brother, his stance not as proud and tall as it used to be.

 

-

 

“WE’RE HERE!!!” Papyrus screeched as he already jumped off the carriage, past the confused, surprised guards and into the castle. Since they knew the way best, Sans and Papyrus had been leading the carriage this time, stopping it right before the castle, which might’ve been a bad idea in retrospect.

 

Sans jumped off the carriage next groaning, yelling after his brother, “paps,  _ wait! _ ” Before running past the guards after him.

  
  


Hearth jumped out the carriage, hurrying to catch up with them, only to get stopped by the guards.

  
  


Grillby gasped as he saw the skeletons already running into the castle, his brother and him getting stopped by the guards. When they said they lived at the castle, Grillby didn’t think they lived  _ in _ the castle! What, were they royalty or something like that now?   
  
“Let us through,” Grillby demanded, a bit irritated as to suddenly being left out here. “Those were our friends.”   
  
“We cannot let anyone in without a written invite of the king or queen,” the guards replied in unity.

 

“You just let  _ them _ in without an issue!” Grillby argued, pointing with his palm at the two skeletons he could barely see disappearing into the castle.  _ This _ wasn’t why they’d come here! 

 

The guards looked at each other like they couldn’t quite believe what Grillby said, like they thought he was crazy. “Sir, those are the Great Sorcerers sons,” one of the guards replied, Grillby’s eyes widening in surprised.

 

They were  _ what!? _

  
  


“What… so you mean to tell me we were traveling with the sons of the great south’s sorcerer  _ this whole time _ !?!?!” Hearth almost yelled, looking like he was done with everything and everyone.

 

_ What next? Pigs fly? _

  
  


Sans and Papyrus returned a bit later, a third monster behind them. A skeleton like them, almost as tall as Papyrus, but in a long, black robe with silvery, almost white accents and detailed patterns, a long staff lying regal in his hands.

 

Sans walked up to Grillby and Hearth at the carriage, the former leaning against it, looking sort of miffed. “hey, what’re you doin’ out here?”   
  
“Guards didn’t let us in,” Grillby replied, after which Sans turned around almost immediately, marching back to the guards.

 

“hey, what the  _ hell!? _ ” He practically hissed at them. “those’re our  _ friends! _ ”   
  
“We cannot let anyone in without a written invite by the king or-”   
  
“bla bla, you  _ saw _ ‘em comin’ in the same carriage as us, the fuck you think they were!?”

 

The guards looked more tired of this than anything else, one of the guards letting out a sigh. “You  _ know _ we can’t just let them in, young sorcerer, they could be spies or assassins.”

 

“ugh, whatever,” Sans groaned, turning their back to them again. “they’re always fuckin’ assassins.”

 

Papyrus and the monster next to him, his father, Gaster, watched Sans walk back to the carriage with slightly amused eyes, Papyrus following after him quickly, while Gaster hang back at the guards. 

 

“Please do excuse my son,” he said apologetically. “I know you’re just doing your job.”

 

“It is all right, Great Sorcerer,” the guards replied, giving Gaster a small bow, before he left to follow his sons as well.

 

“pops said there’s a church close by, they could take y’ in,” Sans already was telling the flames, until Gaster appeared behind him, placing a hand on both of his son’s shoulders.

 

“Alternatively there is an empty house in the town’s center. It comes with a stable and enough space to keep your carriage,” he spoke, giving the two priests a respectful nod. “I’m Gaster, Sorcerer of the South. It’s always good to meet friends of my sons.”

  
  


“Oh, yes. Thank you great sorcerer, we are in your debt!” Hearth bowed his head, looking at his brother to decide where they shall go.

  
  


“Thank you, Great Sorcerer,” Grillby copied him, bowing his head as well out of respect.

 

Gaster laughed lightly at their behavior, while not unused to him, still not necessary in his opinion. “Oh please, it is nothing. Let me walk you to the places, so you can make yourself an image.”   
  
Sans groaned already, throwing his head back so he was looking skywards. “can’t we take the carriage?”

 

“Why would we? It’s a nice day for a walk,” Gaster argued, Papyrus nodding excitedly. 

 

“THE CHURCH ISN’T VERY FAR, BROTHER!!! YOU KNOW THAT.”

 

“no, i  _ know _ the church is far, y’all’re just crazy.”   
  
Gaster chuckled, but didn’t answer to his sons further. “Don’t worry about your carriage,” he told the two priests. “I’ll make sure the guards bring it to wherever you wish to stay.”

 

-

 

Hearth and Grillby decided to go with the house, not wanting to get used to living with other people again after what they went through. Privacy is what they really wanted, to be alone, to catch up with everything that has happened, to mourn in peace.

 

A week passed, Hearth and Grillby slowly started to get used to their new life, Sans and Papyrus visit often. Gaster visited at times as well, helping them get back on their feet after such a loss. It did take some encouraging, Hearth more so than Grillby, for them to start to move on.

 

They got familiar with their new home, getting to know the townsfolk little by little, it was a slow process, but they were doing it. But before they could  _ really  _ settle in, Gaster has gotten a letter saying that a town was being terrorized by demons and needed his help! Gaster has asked if the flames wanted to come along, and because Sans and Papyrus didn’t want to be left out, they came along as well.

 

They were all on the road once again, in a bigger carriage that belonged to the great sorcerer, driven by one of the royal’s servants, having four strong horses carrying them through the tarraine. It was way larger than the flame’s carriage, it was fancier, and it was sturdier. They all headed to the west.

  
  


“i don’ even remember the last time y’ were out, pops,” Sans mused, eying his father curiously. Not a lot of people asked for the help of the Great Sorcerer of the South, knowing he was already under royal command, rather than a travelling sorcerer. Which just meant this one must be all the more important.

 

“I do believe you were too young to remember that time,” Gaster replied, nodding a little. “I didn’t leave the kingdom during your absence either.” That honestly surprised neither of the skeletons anyways. But it reminded Grillby of something.

 

“If you’re… If you all live and work for the king, how come you just  _ left? _ ” He asked Sans and Papyrus, knowing very well they’ve asked before, but… He just couldn’t understand. Now even less. “Didn’t they have duties?” He added, this time directed at Gaster.

 

The Great Sorcerer shook his head slowly. “Their most important duty was, first and foremost, to grow up into strong young adults, to learn about their abilities and themselves. If Sans and Papyrus decided they couldn’t do that trapped inside the walls of the castle, of this town, I wasn’t going to stop them,” he spoke, watching his sons with every word. “And I do think you’ve grown a lot. As people, as sorcerers, and in size. Papyrus, you’re so tall!”   
  
“I KNOW!!! I’M SO TALL!!!” Papyrus replied giddily, Sans laughing at their exchange.

 

“think most we’ve learned was how to steal somethin’ and run away from someone,” Sans admitted, chuckling lightly.

 

“Ah, the rogue’s path,” Gaster mused, nodding. “You’ve gotten in trouble while you were gone?”   
  
Sans shrugged. “sure. might’ve.” He decided not to elaborate on that. “though the priests took our horses.”   
  
“WHICH WE STOLE FROM A VILLAGE, SANS,” Papyrus reminded him.

 

“ok. fair.”

  
  


“You stole my demon….” Hearth muttered while crossing his arms over his chest, just shy from pouting, saying the word ‘demon’ so low it was barely audible. 

 

Ahh, that’s what this was missing. They were all on the road again, in a carriage, but this time, no demon to bind them. They were just here because they have no home, and the skeletons found them and just took them with them. As much as he hated the brother, Hearth missed Death, he missed his little shenanigans he did in his cage. The way he gave them the silent treatment with so much sass, actually getting fussy when they don’t give him his dinner on time, screeching until he got it.

 

He really missed when he would exercise in his cage, showing how powerful that body was, how tone and pretty, perfect for when it’s wiggling under you panting for more….

 

Hearth snapped out of it before he could get to into it, Death was gone, he was in a carriage with a group of monsters, no point on thinking about the past. No matter how salty he was that Sans got to take him before he flew away with his brother.

  
  


Gaster barely glanced at Hearth, but decided not to let them know he’s heard anything. To not let them know he had an idea why Sans was glowering like that at Hearth all of the sudden.

 

Besides, something else caught his attention either way. He could feel someone approaching them, a strong power, a sorcerers power. And when he looked out of the window of the carriage, Gaster saw them riding into the opposite direction as theirs, it was a skeleton monster just like him, they were tall and lean, they held themselves with authority and right. Their clothes were black, like a dark robe, with a big cloak flowing behind them, their clothes looked like they were twinkling in the light, like stars. It was hard to see their face, a hood covering their features, but the eye lights were piercing. Their eyes met for a moment, and Gaster knew, with the power he could sense on this sorcerer, they could sense Gaster’s warlock power just as easily.

 

But they didn’t halt. Didn’t seem to give them a second thought, simply continuing on their way. And so did their own carriage.

  
  


The figure wasn’t interested in a warlock and other monsters, it had more important things to do. Like find the ones that killed his two beautiful children.


	13. when you sense that ass from miles away

They’ve been traveling for some days, almost a week, getting close to their destination by now. But it was dark at night and everyone needed rest, which meant they were still making camp at the nights, but sleeping inside the carriage wagon this time, as it was safer and spacey enough. 

 

Sans, though, didn’t sleep. He did  _ before! _ He’s never had trouble sleeping before since they took on this journey, only maybe when he was feeling slightly sick of sitting all day and needed to stretch his legs a little. But even after doing that this time, Sans couldn’t fall asleep.

 

Sans was nervous. Jittery. Like he had somewhere to go, had somewhere to be, somewhere he  _ wasn’t at right now. _

 

So Sans sneaked out. Out of the carriage and into the woods surrounding them, nervously glancing around the trees and plants. What was he looking for? No,  _ who _ was he looking for?

 

Sans tried to sniff the air, before realization hit him like a brick to the face.

 

Death was here. His mate was here in this forest and he could  _ smell _ him, he just needed to  _ find _ him. And finding him suddenly became an urge so strong it was barely bearable.

  
  


Death  _ was  _ here. In fact, Death and Reaper are the reason the great Gaster was sent to the west. Currently Death and Reaper have been sleeping in a hole they have found, it looked like a big animal used to live here, burrow it’s way underground until it made a little nest. Well that creature was long gone, the little underground space free from any monster or creature for a while. Now it was just a hole in the ground, which was perfect for Death and Reaper to nap in. Except, only Reaper napped, and even for a little bit, noticing his brother was getting a bit anxious. 

 

Reaper cooed at Death in question, looking at his brother trying to get comfortable in his spot beside his bigger brother. Only getting a huff from a annoyed Death as he turn to his back, glaring at the ceiling. Death whined at Reaper, not knowing what is happening besides the sense that he is supposed to be somewhere, with someone.

 

Reaper could only cock his head to the side in question, nudging Death to lay back down, the younger one complying. 

  
  


Sans grew more nervous by the minute, like the more time he wasted  _ without _ Death, the worse things got. But he didn’t know where to go, didn’t know where his mate was, didn’t know how to find him. He just walked around aimlessly, nervously, anxiously, not wanting to call out and wake up predators, but also not knowing what else  _ to do. _

 

Until his foot slipped into something, a hole or a burrow, and he tripped, falling into it with a suppressed yelp.

  
  


Reaper got up when something dropped from the entrance, pushing Death under him just in case whatever fell attacked. He was still a bit overprotective of Death at the moment, the fear of his brother’s capture sinking deep.

 

Death sat up in alert when he smelled the intruder, and wow he hasn’t ever thought he would be happy smelling this idiot. Death made a sound of joy, letting his brother know Sans was no threat. Before wiggling out of his brother’s hold, tackling Sans and covering his face in saliva with his tongue.

  
  


Sans gasped at that, gasped at not being alone in the hole, but it only took him a second to realized that that tongue on his face was from  _ him. _ From Death. His mate!

 

He couldn’t help but to let out a small giggle that found it’s way into his throat, hands around him tightly, protectively, keeping Death close. He realized suddenly what he had been missing this whole time, why he had been so fidgety.

 

He wanted his mate,  _ needed _ his mate. And he didn’t want to let go of him ever again, part of him just wanting to take him back with him. But he knew Reaper wouldn’t like that.

 

And most importantly, Sans realized,  _ those _ were the demons they were after. The demons Gaster had been asked to slay.

  
  


Death was wiggling in Sans’ hold, too excited to stay in place, he was like a puppy meeting his owner when they come through the door. His tail was wagging and his wings flapping like he was trying to put out a fire that wasn’t there.

 

The bigger demon grunted, grabbing Sans’ leg with his tail, dragging him towards him so they wouldn’t be  _ right  _ at the entrance. Death was dragged along with Sans since he was right on top of him, and Sans was holding onto him tightly. Reaper placed them near his chest, curling around them to protect them from any danger, watching them interact. 

  
  


Sans didn’t even mind as the other demon began dragging them inside more, curling around them. He had his mate back and right now that was all that mattered.  _ That _ and… and protecting him.

 

“ _ death, _ ” he said, quietly, like any louder noise was going to break something sacred. “death, my father’s here, he has… he’s been called t-to slay… you…” The words felt like sharp rocks in his throat, cutting into him with each one he let out.

 

“you gotta- ...gotta leave.” He didn’t  _ want _ him to leave. Didn’t  _ want _ to lose his mate, not again. But if they’d stay here Gaster would find them, and Grillby and Hearth would, and Sans wasn’t sure if he could stop  _ all three of them _ from killing the demons.

  
  


Death stopped to stare at him, Reaper also looked at him with something fierce. But he reacted fast, getting up and sniffing around, looking out the entrance, tense and on the alert. 

 

But Death didn’t exactly move, just whined at Sans as he pressed closer, going through the same thing Sans was going through. At one point he did get up, but pulling Sans glove with his mouth, looking up at him.

  
  


Sans looked down at the demon, at his mate, and oh god. How was he going to be able to let go again?    
  
“i’ll come back,” Sans promised quietly. “i’ll find you.” He didn’t know  _ how, _ he didn’t know how he would be able to track the demons down again, to leave his family completely to find his mate. He didn’t even know what to do _ then! _ Would he stay with Death? Would he take him with him?

 

But he didn’t even care about that right now. That his plan had holes. Holes he wasn’t sure he could ever fill. He just knew that they had to  _ leave _ for now and he knew that he wanted to be with his mate.

  
  


Death whined, going behind Sans to push him out the den with his head, careful not to poke his back with his horns. Once Sans was out, Reaper waiting outside, sniffing around before deciding on a path that seemed the safest. 

 

Death pushed Sans with him, farther away from Sans’ group, the carriage, his family. Reaper looked back, seeing Death trying to get Sans to come with them, even deciding pushing wasn’t doing much with a lazy lug like Sans, so Death went on his hind legs to grab Sans’ hand to pull him instead.

  
  


Sans’ hand tightened around Death’s for a moment, but he tried to keep his stand, digging his heels in the ground. “i  _ can’t, _ ” he almost wailed. He wanted to. He wanted to so bad. “if they wake up without me there, they’ll look harder than ever.” He wouldn’t be surprised if his father had some kind of spell to track him down, too, making the demons even an easier target.

 

He couldn’t risk that. 

  
  


Death whined at him, pulling lighter, but Reaper’s tail went around him to lift him from the ground, making Death yelp. The bigger demon glanced at Sans one last time, before running off, Death making whining noises as he watched Sans getting farther away from him, until he couldn’t see him no more.

 

Death whimpered, his brother cooing to sooth him as he ran through the greenery, Death limp in his hold. 

  
  


Sans watched them leave with a pang of pain in his soul, unsure whether he should feel glad Reaper had cut their goodbye short, or whether he should feel upset Reaper had taken Death from him. But no. They had to go. Sans had to stay. It was good. This was good.

 

He went back to where the carriage was, finding it after a bit of searching. No one had woken up since he left, most of them still in their same spot. So Sans simply lied down again, too, pretending nothing happened. Pretending he didn’t just sabotage their mission.

 

-

 

When they made it to the village, a few buildings had scratches on them, but not much. The villagers has talked to the sorcerer, telling him that there was a village close by before them that had trouble with the same demons, now it was in shambles, having done nothing to stop the creatures. This village doesn’t want to end like them, so they called for the great sorcerer of the south to help.

  
  


Gaster examined the claw marks focusedly. They weren’t as fresh as he had hoped, but hovering his hand over them, he could still sense the familiar energy of a demon. He hummed thoughtfully, motioning Sans over, who obliged nervously.

 

“Do you have some pure white?” He asked, his eyes not leaving the marks. Sans nodded, taking off his backpack to get out a small vial of pure white magic. His father took it gratefully, pouring it into his palm where it stayed afloat in the air, before the shapeless liquid formed into a solid bone, tinged darkly.

 

“Interesting…” The sorcerer mused at the shape of the object. Grillby peeked over to them curiously.

  
“What does it mean?” He asked, surprising Gaster for a moment. He had almost forgotten they weren’t alone.

 

“Oh, nothing too special,” he hummed out, not entirely too comfortable with giving away his powers to a near stranger. “The bone is the manifestation of the demon’s magic. It’ll help us track them down.”   
  


Gaster nodded a goodbye towards the villager, before getting back onto the carriage, this time being the one to lead the horses, much to the servants dismay. But Gaster had to, since he was the only one able to sense the demon’s presence.

 

Well. 

 

Him and Sans.

  
  


Hearth got onto the carriage next, looking up at Gaster as they went on their way. “You mean the demon is…. a skeleton demon?” flashes of Death ran through his mind, a slight hope that he could see Death again, yet another wishing he wouldn’t ever see those two demons as long as he lived.

  
  


Grillby and Papyrus tensed as they heard the question, both of them knowing exactly what was going through Hearth’s mind. Only Sans seemed to deflate in on himself, staying quiet, hoping and praying Gaster would somehow shoot that down.

 

“Not necessarily,” the sorcerer hummed. “They could be some sort of demon of necromantic heritage. Or some kind of bone-eating demon, though I hope that wouldn’t be the case for obvious reasons.” He shuddered at his last suggestion, before going on. “Essentially the bone doesn’t have to say anything about the demon’s appearance, rather than it’s own expression of magic.”

  
  


Hearth hummed in thought, sitting back down properly and staying quiet. “Okay, uh… didn’t the villagers say there was more than one?” He just wanted to make sure, he just wanted to crush his hopes that it was who he thought it was, or just have to toughen up for what’s to come if he ends up right.

  
  


Gaster nodded at the priests question. “Several demons,” he said. “I’ve been summoned to stop several demons. I’m not sure how many exactly, but more than one. I simply hope they’re a pack that stays together.”   
  
“like any professional,” Sans quipped, getting a small side-glare from his father.

 

“Oh hush you, it’ll work out.”   
  
Sans shrugged, not commenting more on it, though he…  _ did _ wonder if he should, if he got to see Death again, tell the two demons to split up. That way only one of them could be found at a time, but… it’d also meant that they wouldn’t have each other as protection, it’d make them more vulnerable…

 

“...What do we do with the demons when we find them?” Grillby asked a bit hesitant. Gaster hesitated as well, thinking over his answer.

 

“You’re the priest here,” he said finally. “What do you think?”   
  
...Right. They were going to have to kill them, that’s what you do with stray demons, especially if they’ve been terrorizing and threatening innocent people.

 

Suddenly the air in the carriage seemed tense, glum, even Papyrus seemed worried. Gaster didn’t let it get to him. Didn’t question it. Simply kept the carriage going.

 

-

 

This hadn’t quite worked out as Sans had hoped. He thought the demons would get further away, but by the time night had fallen over them, Sans was sitting awake in the carriage, everyone else snoozing around them. 

 

Death was here. He could sense him. And it was easier this time around, too. Like their last meeting had freshened Sans’ senses, and when he got up this time, it was like he knew exactly where Death would be. He was walking with purpose, was walking with a goal. A goal Sans didn’t know  _ where _ it was, only who it was, but his body figured out the rest by itself.

 

Sometimes Sans wondered how the others could stay so oblivious about this. Obviously not as oblivious anymore, they’ve all seen the bone, but… Death’s scent was all over the place, strong and distracting and intoxicating. 

 

Was he  _ really _ the only one that could smell him? Why, because he had more demon in himself than any of them, aside from Gaster maybe, or because he was mated with the very demon?

 

Sans felt his soul do a leap of joy when he saw his mate, but he stopped himself from running, not wanting to startle either of them.

 

“ _ death! _ ” He called instead, quiet, but his voice still carrying through the silence of the forest.

  
  


Death looked up from the lake he was drinking from, but ran to Sans as soon as he saw him through the darkness of the night. Turning and pouncing onto Sans with no delay, forcing him to the ground. Death cooed at Sans, licking his face again, yet not as extreme as yesterday.

 

Reaper sat there and watched, not eager to interrupt when his brother was so happy, yet knowing if Sans was close, so were the people trying to catch them. They will have to get lunch on the way then…

  
  


Sans was laughing when he landed on his back, Death on top of him, almost more similar to a dog rather than a mate. No, this dog  _ was _ his mate, the mark on his shoulder proof of it. And he was going to protect him with everything he could.

 

“told’cha i’d come back,” Sans said, running his hand over the back of the demons skull to give him some scratches. “though i can’t stay long… y’ shouldn’t either.”

  
  


Death made an annoyed expression, like he was done with Sans’ shit. This time moving off of him, grabbing the hood of Sans’ cape with his mouth, and dragging him away, to the direction he was headed. Reaper giving out a quiet laugh at watching his brother be stubborn enough to drag Sans away.

  
  


“death,  _ no! _ ” Sans complained, struggling a bit in the demon’s hold, but not all too much. He understood him in the end. “i can’t just leave paps behind! they’re just gonna come an’ find me if you take me.” Right  _ now _ they at least still had the chance to get far away enough so Gaster would just give up.

  
  


Reaper grunted, already walking over to break it up once again, but Death crooned at Sans, letting him go to look at him with a deflated look, resting his head on Sans’ chest.

  
  


Sans looked down at him sadly, putting his hands around Death’s head on his chest to hold him close, stroke him a little. “i know,” he said, quietly. “i’m sorry…”

 

He held him like that for a small moment, before glancing up to Reaper, locking eyes with him. “my dad assumes you’re traveling together,” he said, quietly, warily. “he’s only following the trace of one of you. if… you split… he won’t be able to find the other…”

 

He didn’t actually make it sound like a suggestion. It wasn’t really a suggestion. Sans knew that that meant they would leave the other alone in the hands of the sorcerer and his team, only saving themselves. But it was still an information worth sharing, because maybe,  _ maybe _ they could figure something out.

  
  


Reaper narrowed his sockets, but nodded, calling out to Death to keep moving. Death looking up at Sans and giving him one more small lick before getting up to follow his brother, looking back at Sans every few times before he was out of sight.

  
  


Sans stayed to watch them leave, not sure why or what for. He just didn’t want to leave yet. Didn’t want to lose Death again. But after he couldn’t see either of the demons anymore, he finally turned around, too, heading back to the carriage.


	14. different is good right? .... right?

And it repeated. It didn’t take long for Gaster to notice the demons were  _ running away _ , and the mission suddenly turned into a hunt. A hunt that went from sunrise to sundown, until everyone had something to eat and finally went to sleep.

 

Everyone but Sans.

 

The demons never seemed to quite put as much distance between themselves and the carriage for Sans  _ not _ to sense Death. And everytime he did he seeked him up, small reunions keeping him from feeling like he was missing something crucial, something he needed to live, and instead like he just had to wait for night to get it.

 

And everytime they had to let go again it got harder. Sans knew he should want there to be a night he  _ couldn’t _ meet Death anymore, he should be looking forward to it. It meant the demons made distance, it meant they were having a chance on getting away.

 

But instead the idea  _ scared _ Sans. What then? What would he do  _ then? _

 

He didn’t know. And he didn’t exactly want to think too much about it either, instead continuing to seek up Death at night, the fourth or fifth time now.

 

But this time Sans hadn’t been the only one to be awake when he left. Grillby hurried out of the carriage only seconds after the skeleton.

 

He wanted to say something at first, ask him what he was going. It wasn’t safe in the forest all by yourself. But he stopped himself from doing so once he saw the way Sans began walking into the forest without hesitation. Like he knew exactly what he was doing, where he was going. He almost looked  _ possessed _ , with with how much purpose the skeleton went through the woods.

 

So Grillby decided to stay quiet. And follow. 

 

Sans didn’t stop once to look around where he was, to reorient himself. Like he didn’t need to to know where to go. Did he even know where he was? Did he know where he was going?

 

Yes, it turned out. Yes, Sans did know. Because when he finally  _ did _ stop, Grillby perfectly saw  _ Death _ , rubbing his body against Sans’ on all fours, before practically jumping onto him, clawed hands on Sans’ shoulders, feet around his waist, and Sans had to struggle not falling back. He was stumbling back a little before placing his arms around the demon to hold him, laughing giddily as he nuzzled a bit into him, into the spot Sans had marked him.

 

Grillby’s eyes widened at the sight. They didn’t look surprised at seeing each other, they didn’t look like this was the first time they were doing this. Had Sans been…  _ sabotaging _ them? Had he been meeting with the demons this whole time!?   
  
But… that meant that the demons they were hunting…

 

“Oh,  _ fuck _ .”   
  
It  _ were _ Death and his brother.

  
  


Death tensed, bolting out of Sans’ arms, his tail going around Sans’ waist to push him behind him as he hissed at the newcomer. Reaper growled lowly, appearing from the cave they were in front of, his body low as he watched Grillby, teeth bared.

 

The small demon narrowed his sockets at Grillby, remembering him as the one to attack, the one to want to hurt his brother, the one that wanted them gone. Now he is here, to probably finish the job.

  
  


Sans startled at the sudden commotion, but it didn’t take too long for him to spot the elemental as well, immediately glowering at the priest. Like  _ hell _ he would let him hurt his mate, or  _ either _ or the demons.

 

But Grillby simply looked like… Like a cornered animal, eyes wide and in shock, hands raised to his defense, yet he didn’t draw his swords.

 

“I’m not here to fight!” He said, rushed and scared. Sans didn’t believe him. Sans  _ did _ believe that the elemental simply knew how to pick his fights, and two demons and a warlock against one priest didn’t sound like a too good idea.

 

“then  _ why _ are you here?” Sans hissed at him aggressively. 

 

“Following you,” Grillby replied, the statement sounding almost like an accusation. “What are  _ you _ doing here?”   
  
“‘s none a ya business!”   
  
But Grillby didn’t budge. He stood his place, not moving an inch as he spoke. “Sans you  _ cannot _ keep meeting them. The Great Sorcerer Gaster will find them  _ eventually. _ ”   
  
“you don’t know that!”   
  
“What are you planning to do?” The priest questioned, trying to talk some  _ sense _ into Sans. “Continue this hunt forever? Keep going and going this way for the rest of our lives?”   
  


“what’re  _ you _ plannin’!?” Sans snapped back at him. “ _ killin’ _ my mate? yea, no thanks, i pass!”

 

“They’ve been  _ killing _ innocent people, Sans!” Grillby threw back at him, the argument as solid it took Sans back for a moment.

 

And what  _ could _ he argue back to that? They  _ had _ killed innocent people, had destroyed town and terrorized people.

 

But they were  _ people. _ Sans  _ knew _ they were people, so they must have  _ some _ reason why they’re doing this,  _ something _ that explains their behavior. No creature does something without a damn reason, whether the reason be pleasure or needs.

 

“an’  _ you’ve _ killed animals,” Sans finally reminded Grillby. “so the fuck what! you don’ see a fuckin’ deer huntin’ you!”

  
  


Death didn’t respond, only letting Sans hold him close, his brother right behind them, just in case things went wrong. Death sometimes licked Sans’ cheek when he said some really nice stuff to defend them, sometimes a few more because he wanted to.

  
  


Grillby was watching them tensely. He could tell Sans was feeling strong about not letting the demons get to any harm. And god damn, he could tell the demons were caring about Sans as well, he  _ knew _ they were people. He  _ knew _ they shouldn’t kill them. But what were they supposed to do? Let them continue to kill people and destroy homes?  _ Like they’ve done to his… _

 

Grillby sighed. His sigh was uncomfortable, tense, tired. Hurt.

 

“...You’re right,” he finally said. “I have no right to judge them. But we can not let them keep creating this much destruction.”   
  
Sans stayed quiet, still glaring at the elemental, waiting for something. For what he was suggesting. For what he wanted to tell him.

 

“...We can bring them back,” he finally said.

  
“are y’ fuckin’  _ insane!? _ ” Sans hissed immediately, magic crackling in his staff.

 

“No! Sans,  _ relax! _ ” The priest said quickly. “We can bring them back and keep them close. Try to… keep them from going as wild.”

 

“y’wanna chain ‘em up again,” Sans noted, but Grillby shook his head.

 

“I don’t. But all of us together might be able to convince them-” He paused, looking at Death and Reaper instead of Sans. “Convince  _ you _ to… To be a little more peaceful. You’d be free, free to hunt, free to run, as long as you leave innocent people alone, while we stay close to… make sure of that.” He took a deep breath, like explaining this idea was exhausting to him. Took all of his strength. “But it’d require your cooperation.”

  
  


Death growled lowly, pressing closer to Sans like he was trying to protect him. “all look da same ta us.“

 

And really, how  _ were  _ they supposed to tell them apart, other than their smell, but how can he know if he could kill or not? Food was food. 

 

“wha makes da animals ya kill bad?” 

  
  


Grillby hesitated. He knew he was being hypocritical going on on this, but it was his only chance on getting  _ some _ kind of compromise.

 

“...It is more about sentience, I suppose,” he tried to explain. “Animals run on instinct. They eat, they hunt, they die. They don’t really… feel. People, monsters and humans, they are sentient. They feel and learn and do good. We’re the offspring of our lord.”

 

Sans scoffed a bit at that, but he decided to keep quiet, letting Grillby go on to explain himself. His… his offer sounded not bad. It  _ would _ give them a way to keep the demons alive, but also keep Sans close to his mate…

 

“We can help you,” Grillby finally said, “learn how to keep them apart. We can stop you from killing things people will want to kill  _ you _ back for.”

  
  


Death scoffed, Reaper growling behind them when he felt his brother’s mood. “last time i made a deal with ya all, da o’ders didn’ hold up d’ere par’.“

 

He remembered making a deal with Sans, yet the others didn't follow the deal, even after Sans told them about it. 

  
  


Grillby sighed, but he knew they were right. When Sans had shown up, telling them he had made a deal with a  _ demon, _ to protect them, but let everyone else suffer… It was hard to take in. They hadn’t responded well.

 

“...How about this,” he spoke, calmly. “I’ll suggest the others what we’ve discussed tomorrow. And… we’ll come back at night again, tell you how they’ve responded.”   
  
“...don’ stay ‘ere, though,” Sans told Death quietly. “if they don’ respond well, i don’ wan’ ‘em finding you an’ your bro, ‘cause ya were waiting for us here.”

  
  


Reaper cooed softly at Sans, finally for the first time licking Sans’ face, to show his gratitude for standing up for them and protecting them this much. He turned away, already walking into the trees, Death giving Sans way more licks before running after his brother, sticking his tongue out at Grillby as they left. 

  
  


Sans’ hand hovered over the spot Reaper licked him, feeling oddly…  _ honored? _ That was the first time Reaper had actually done anything else but watch him or maybe glare or growl at him. Was he… was he  _ really _ getting their trust? Or was this just some kind of brother’s-mate-benefits?

 

Sans flinched a little surprised when he felt Grillby behind him, a hand on his shoulder while they watched the demons leave.

 

“How did you find them…?” Grillby asked. He sounded less tense, less exhausted. Sans had calmed down more, too.

 

“‘dunno,” he admitted. “accident at first. though i could smell death was there  _ somewhere. _ now i just kinda… i sense ‘im an’ i follow my senses.”

 

The elemental hummed thoughtfully in reply. Must be some sort of mates instinct, if Sans and Death were really mates. Or just demonic senses? But Sans never seemed  _ that _ much demonically influenced before.

 

“...thanks,” the warlock muttered, his voice a little weaker than usually. “for helpin’ me. for… suggestin’ this. i really don’ wanna lose death.”

 

“...It’s no problem,” Grillby said, though Sans knew it probably was more than the elemental let on. “You’re not wrong with wanting to protect them, they’re… not bad people.”

 

“they’re jus’ different,” Sans agreed, musing. 

 

-

 

The others were still asleep when Sans and Grillby arrived, so they decided to catch a few more hours of sleep as well, before having to tell the others. By the time Sans woke up, he… almost thought last night had been a dream. But Grillby pulled him to the back of the carriage at one point, asking if he’d be okay if they would suggest their idea now.

 

Sans gave him his go ahead.

 

So they did. Grillby mostly. He left out the part of Sans meeting up with the demons, left out the part of Sans being mated with him. He said they had met them in the forest coincidentally. That they were demons they’ve met before. 

 

Gaster, oddly, didn’t seem too surprised.

 

But Grillby went on to explain that they were  _ people, _ sentient, that they had feelings, that they weren’t  _ bad _ , just different and confused.

 

“They’re demons, young priest,” Gaster reminded him, his tone not cold, but… slightly dismissively. Like he knew he knew better and would win this argument.

 

There was no argument.

 

“SO WHAT???” Papyrus replied instead of Grillby. “THAT’S JUST ANOTHER KIND OF PEOPLE! JUST HOW WE ARE MONSTERS.” Sans remembered him saying this before, and Gaster seemed to mull over those words as well.

  
“Very well,” he uttered out eventually. “Go on. What are you suggesting?”

 

So Grillby went on to explain his idea. To keep the demons free, but close, given that they were cooperating. He explained that they could keep an eye on them and what they would chase, stopping them before they got to harm anything they shouldn’t. That included mostly people, but maybe also their or other people’s horses. They sort of needed them.

 

“Many people have tried to tame demons,” Gaster mused out. “They have not been successful. What makes you think yours will be different?”   
  
“I’m not trying to tame them, sir,” Grillby explained honestly. “They’re our… friends.” He decided to use the term ‘friend’ loosely, knowing very well the demons didn’t like them very much really. If at all. “I want to help them.”

  
  


Hearth snorted, but it lacked any humor. “You want to befriend and keep the killer of our town? Our home! Our family! Where we grew up!?!“ Hearth glared at Grillby like he betrayed him, their family, their friends and their life. 

  
  


Grillby shrunk at the accusation, knowing that he was  _ right _ .

 

“YOU HAD CAGED HIS BROTHER IN,” Papyrus reminded Hearth. “WE ALL HAD HELD HIM CAPTIVE. OF COURSE HIS BROTHER WOULD BE ANGRY!!!  _ I _ WAS ANGRY WHEN SANS WAS TAKEN!”

 

“Sans was taken?” Gaster asked, suddenly perking surprised, worried.

  
“‘s cool,” Sans noted. “they were tryna catch the demon so ‘e flew away. took me with ‘im. but didn’ hurt me.”   
  
“...Ah.” Gaster mumbled, nodding slowly.

  
  


“But he destroyed my home, killed everyone in it, completely wrecked all the buildings! Why would he do that, when they didn't do anything!! I even bet he did it to all the towns before ours!“ Hearth looked at Papyrus, sadness and anger in his eyes. 

  
  


“an’ how was reap s’pposed t’ know that?” Sans countered back miffed. “for all he knew they could’a’ve all been hidin’ death.”

 

“Brother, you have to understand,” Grillby tried again, softer, placing his hand on Hearth’s arm gently. “They’re not like us, they don’t understand who or when it is okay to kill. But they’re  _ not _ bad people. The demon brother was angry and scared for Death. I know I’d be angry if someone were to kidnap you.”   
  
“THAT’S WHY YOU WANT TO HELP THEM, THOUGH, ISN’T IT???” Papyrus added hopefully. “SO THEY  _ CAN _ TELL WHEN IT’S WRONG TO KILL?”

 

Grillby gave the skeleton a small nod.

  
  


Hearth stayed quiet, sighing softly. Yeah, he got what they were all saying, and yeah they might make a good point.

 

But… 

 

It was still his family. They died. And they killed them. This wouldn't be so easily forgiven. But he doesn't have to forgive, but at least still be friends… just maybe. 

 

“Okay… so when do we meet them?“ Hearth asked, looking at Sans and Grillby. 

  
  


“we won’t at all, as long as i don’ know y’re all agreeing on not attackin’ ‘em,” Sans said, before Grillby could answer.   
  
“Well, I’m obviously in,” Grillby told him, before getting followed up by Papyrus.

  
“ME TOO!” He agreed quickly and easily. “I DON’T WANT THEM TO KEEP GETTING INTO TROUBLE WHEN THEY DON’T KNOW ANY BETTER. THIS IS PERFECT!!!”

  
  


“I'm in, I won’t hurt them.“ Hearth nodded to Sans. 

  
  


They were glancing to Gaster now, the sorcerer having stayed quiet since a bit, glancing ahead without wavering. “I will not lie, I am skeptic,” he said, holding the reins in his hand firmly. “But you seem convinced of the demons. It’s been long since I’ve seen something like that. I cannot deny I’m intrigued. I’m curious as to how this will end out.”   
  
“SO???” Papyrus asked, his hands tense on the seat of the carriage as he was awaiting for their only missing answer.

  
“...Fine. We will do your idea, Grillby,” Gaster spoke, and the monsters seemed to feel a collective wave of relief. “However, if I get the feeling the demons are not as sentient or as cooperating as you said they’d be, I  _ will _ have to end them.”   
  
Grillby straightened. Tense and stiff. But he nodded.


	15. it's raining fish~

Death was stomach down in a small pond. Reaper sitting at the edge munching on the fish he had gotten, watching his silly brother make a game out of catching fish. 

 

When fish started getting close, Death pounced, using only his hands and feet to step on the fish, caging them in his claws. The ones he caught already were in his mouth, his jaw opened wide to accommodate all the fish in his mouth, already looking like he couldn't stuff anymore. 

 

Fish sometimes slapped Death’s face, sometimes they got away, sometimes they straight up went into his claws and Death screeched in victory, making Reaper laugh. 

  
  


“Oh no,” Grillby groaned out quietly as he saw the small pond and Death inside of it. Sans and him had gone as soon as the sun was down this time, mostly because that was when Sans  _ always _ left, though the others were still awake in the carriage this time, waiting. 

 

Sans was already running towards the pond for Death, which was just fine by Grillby, because it meant the wet demon would glomp Sans far away from him and his delicate flames.

  
  


Death turned to look at Sans’ approach, making a strangled noise that was supposed to be a yip, but the fish made it sound like gurgling. Death ran out the pond, pouncing Sans before Reaper can even turn to look at the newcomers. 

 

Death only let go of the fish in his mouth when he was on Sans to lick his face. The fish all falling on Sans like a waterfall. 

  
  


“eughh death!” Sans, lying with his back on the ground, whined as the fish hit him, but he was giggling. “gross! don’ cover me in dead fish!”

 

He put his arms around the demon licking his face, before sitting them both up with Death on his lap. “guess what, though. good news! the others agreed to grillb’s idea!”   
  
There was obvious excitement in his voice, excited at the idea of getting to keep Death close, of getting to be with his mate  _ without _ having to hide it.

  
  


Death ignored Sans’ words to get his lunch that was all over Sans, gulping them down fast while licking spots on Sans body that smelled like fish now. 

 

Reaper on the other hand sat up when hearing Sans’ words, cooing softly at the good news, he didn't look extremely overjoyed, but his brother will be safe, so it was only a slight loss they will have to learn do’s and don'ts about food. 

  
  


Grillby watched the two mates with odd amusement as Death was simply eating fish off of Sans, the skeleton still complaining about it being gross, despite laughing.

 

“...The others are waiting at the carriage,” the priest said towards the two demons after a little bit. “They’ve agreed on not hurting or trapping either of you as long as you cooperate. We… well. You could come back with us tonight? Or join us once it is morning, in case you need some time.”   
  
He had no idea how it worked for demons. Would they need to prepare? Did they  _ have _ any kind of luggage or bags? They had clothes, but else…? And honestly, even the clothes seemed sort of worn down and old.

 

Should they get them new ones? Or wouldn’t they even want any?

  
  


Death huffed at Grillby, not planning to do  _ anything  _ until he finishes his dinner, so he better get cozy now. Reaper grunted, sitting down near the direction they are going to go and simply waiting till Death was done with his meal.

 

Once Death  _ was  _ done, he got off Sans and made sure to go around Grillby to avoid getting close to him. Reaper hurrying to go beside him, both walking together and sniffing out the carriage. They were demons, they could just as quickly find their carriage with no help, just let them sniff it out.

  
  


Sans hurried after the demons, unable to stop the little, excited grin on his face, even if he was wet and smelling like fish now. They were coming with them!  _ Actually _ staying with them, and not as  _ prisoners. _

 

Grillby followed too, hanging a bit behind, his hands ready to reach for his blades if need to. He was a little wary of traveling with the demons all of the sudden. Not because he didn’t trust them, but because he knew that if anyone were to see them harboring  _ two _ demons, they were not only making themselves, but also the demons to targets.

 

He could only hope that the Great Sorcerers presence could get people to understand. Or at least to leave them alone.

 

By the time they arrived at the carriage, Papyrus had already fallen asleep. Gaster was wide awake, watching with great focus as he sensed the two demons approaching, quickly followed by his son and then Grillby.

  
  


Hearth was tense in his seat, he is going to see Death once again, and the demon that killed his town….. no.. a worried brother that did whatever to find his loved one. He really didn’t know how this one will end, they were going to travel with demons now, just think of all the trouble they could attract, humans, other demons, all these  _ conflicts _ . 

 

But… they all seem ready to go through it, and Hearth decided he was too.

 

“Demons!!!!”

 

The scream of the driver was heard from outside the carriage, then something going on top of the carriage itself, walking around on all fours and sniffing.

  
  


Gaster sighed as he heard the driver’s panicked scream, not letting his eyes off the demons as he got off the carriage himself to approach them.

 

“Please, I have everything under control,” he said, and there was a hint in his voice, a hint that suggested just  _ how _ disrespectful it would be they’d ever assume something different. Which about seemed to shut the driver up, muttering quick apologies to the oh so great sorcerer.

 

By that time the noise of claws on the carriages roof had already woken Papyrus, and he got out of it, calling out an excited, “DEATH!!! YOU’RE BACK!!!”

  
  


Death chirped, moving so he was hanging from the side of the carriage, giving Papyrus a good sniff before giving him a shy lick on the cheek. Reaper moved behind Papyrus, sniffing him as Death cooed softly.

 

Hearth got out the carriage a little hesitantly, keeping clear from going near the demons yet. 

  
  


Papyrus squeaked excitedly as Death actually gave him a small lick, followed up by a small, giddy giggle. “IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU!!!” He chirped happily. 

 

Gaster watched the demons interact carefully, curiously. He hadn’t been sure what to expect when the demons would come, from their snippets of stories he’s almost expected them to have to force them here. But instead they seemed curious themselves, having come here on first front.

 

The sorcerer decided to leave the terrified driver’s side, instead approaching the demons, bowing his head a little. “My name is Gaster, Sorcerer of the South, father of, who I believe you have met already, Sans and Papyrus. It is a pleasure to meet you two.”

  
  


Reaper only perked up when Gaster said his relation with the skeleton brothers, sniffing skeptically and a little wearily at the warlock, indeed sensing that this was their father, well, one of their fathers.

 

“REAPER….” His tail pointing to his chest, being polite enough to the people he was going to be traveling with would be necessary for the future, especially a strong warlock like Gaster. His brother on the other hand, only stuck his tongue out at him, the cyan organ barely peeking out before Death ran to Sans, jumping onto him and making a spot for himself on his back. Like a demon backpack, a backpack that licked Sans face as it watched Gaster with weary sockets.

  
  


Sans huffed surprised as Death suddenly jumped onto him, holding onto the demons legs quickly. “no! ugh, your tongue still smells like fish,” he complained as he felt Death’s tongue on him, though that wasn’t enough to ruin his mood either.

 

Gaster gave Reaper a thankful nod, before turning to his son quirking a brow. “So do you,” he noted. “What happened to you?”

 

“Death dropped some fish on him,” Grillby replied, but was walking past them to get to his brother, joining him a bit farther off from the others. “You doing alright?”

  
  


Hearth watched Death let out a demonic laugh, giving Sans a big wet lick over his eye socket. “Ask me again when all this excitement goes down…” Hearth  _ was  _ having a hard time, having to be near someone everyone didn’t want him near before, now his scary brother that killed many towns, including his just to get back to him was right there. Hearth was being cautious, he really didn’t want to start this off on a bad note again, he  _ really  _ didn’t.

  
  


Grillby followed Hearth’s gaze, sighing a little. “I’m sorry, brother,” was all he said as he watched the others happy, excited and curious. He could understand his brother. Could understand how hard it had to be having your parents murderer here. Reaper killed  _ his _ parents, too.

 

But he was still oddly convinced this was going to be good. He didn’t  _ want _ to kill Death. He wasn’t sure how hesitant he would be about the other demon, but Reaper was Death’s brother, so Grillby simply had to take them as an item. And he didn’t  _ want _ to kill Death.

 

_ This _ seemed like the best option. Yes, it wouldn’t be easy learning to live with two demons. But this way they could learn to gain their trust. This way they could  _ actually _ get to know them as  _ people _ , rather than a demon locked up in a cage. And wasn’t that what Hearth had wanted from the beginning on?

  
  


Reaper moved towards the carriage, sniffing at it and poking his head inside, looking at the strange thing, he even went inside the carriage. The carriage is big, Reaper was big, the only place Reaper can stay that would make room for the others is in the middle, curled up. Death followed, dragging Sans along with his tail around his waist, sniffing and touching the carriage with his paws.

 

When he did go inside, he went to cuddle with his brother, dragging Sans along to go lay on the mid drift of Reaper’s body, having the large demon curl around them like a big blanket. Death cuddled up to Sans and looked up at his face from his chest, breathing loudly and huffing silently.

  
  


Gaster narrowed his eyes as the demons walked past them into the carriage, getting a small glance of the mark on Death’s shoulder.

 

...Oh. That  _ would _ explain why he had sensed his son’s presence all over the demon. He didn’t… think he would find his son having mated with an actual  _ demon. _ Of course he seemed to trust them, but how much of that was actual trust, and how much was just influenced by mating instincts?

 

Demonic instincts and mating could be a complicated, dangerous thing, Gaster had  _ hoped _ his son would be monster enough to not be affected by it, but… Things don’t always seem to work out as hoped.

 

He’d put this on his son by hiding this part of him, not warning him of the effects of it. He’d just have to watch how this would go carefully.

 

But when Gaster headed back into the carriage, quickly followed by an excited Papyrus, the two demons were already cuddled up on the floor, a bit irritated yet not complaining Sans in the middle.

 

If… he was lucky, this mating would end just fine for Sans.

  
  


The flames followed soon after, all of them getting comfortable in their seats, until Death wiggled, making Reaper loosen his hold on the two skeletons, only for Death to drag Papyrus into the cuddle pile, putting him right next to Sans and up against Reaper’s side. Once Papyrus was dragged along just like Sans, Death then laid back down onto Sans’ chest, giving him one final lick on his chin before nuzzling his face into Sans’ neck.

 

Reaper once again curling around all of them, like he was protecting them.

  
  


Papyrus tried to keep himself quiet as he let out a small, high squeak, not having expected the demon to invite him, let alone pull him into the pile. But he gladly made himself comfortable, feeling happy, warm and welcomed.

 

Gaster had watched the demon pull Papyrus in with surprise. He could understand Death wanting to have his mate close, but Papyrus…? That threw up a lot more questions all of the sudden. Were those demons  _ actually _ their friends?

  
  


They all settled down after a while, the two demons curled around Sans and Papyrus like they were their new teddy bear.

 

-

 

Morning came too soon, but Reaper was up either way, moving out the carriage with a grumpy Death hanging from his tail, he left Sans and Papyrus behind on the floor.

 

Once Reaper shook Death awake enough to stand, he motioned to a herd of boar, getting a grin from Death before they made for their breakfast. 

 

They were done with their breakfast when the sunrise struck, both of them laying on the floor with the feeling of satisfaction of a full belly. What remained of the boars were just  _ some  _ bones they decided not to eat.

  
  


Gaster was the first to wake up in the morning. He got out of the carriage, rubbing the sleep out of his tired eye sockets, lifting his staff to cast a small spell to straighten his wrinkled cloak. It actually took him a few moments of waking up before he spotted the two demons a bit farther off, in a field covered in blood and some bones.

 

“You’ve got some appetite,” the sorcerer mused as he came towards the two demons, not really approaching them rather than the massacre around them, trying to make out what exactly had happened. 

  
  


Reaper only watched him with half lidded sockets, grunting in response to Gaster. Death on the other hand slowly crawled up to Gaster, hiding in the grass like a predator stalking it’s prey, once getting close enough he pawed at the flowing cloak, turning on his back as he played with it from below.

  
  


“Oh?” Gaster asked, confused at why the demon was approaching. But then he felt hands pawing at his cloak and… Oh. Oh no, what was he doing? Was he trying to tell him something? Was there something on his cloak?   
  
Gaster looked up as he saw the others file out of the carriage, Papyrus first, then Grillby, then Hearth and Sans, and he looked at them in something akin to panic.

 

‘ _ What do I do!? _ ’ He mouthed at them helplessly, Sans being the first to notice. He blinked tiredly, before a lazy grin formed on his face.

 

“d’awww, ‘e’s playin’ with y’r clothes.”

  
  


Death went on alert when he heard Sans, running off to the tall grass. Coming back dragging a dead boar, it was about the same size as him, so he had trouble getting a good hold of it to drag it. That’s when Reaper got up and helped by biting into the boar, taking it in his mouth and walking over to Sans, Death hanging from the boar with his mouth, still hasn’t let go.

 

Reaper dropped the boar in front of Sans, Death pushing it to Sans’ feet and looking up at him with his tail wagging.

  
  


Oh man. Sans clearly wasn’t awake enough for this. But if he told Death he didn’t want the boar, he’d just go off to hunt something else again.

 

“thanks, death,” he said a bit tiredly, but he smiled at his mate as he knelt down and reached with his hand to scratch his chin a bit. “you don’t have to always catch me something, though. we’ve got food.”   
  
“Actually,” Gaster mused, walking back to the others now, “I think this might be good. I’m a little sick of the stale food we’ve packed as supplies. Grillby, Hearth, do you mind starting a fire?”

  
  


Death looked more excited, looking at Sans with big hollow sockets, like he was asking if Sans really accepted his offering. Growling at anyone who tried to take the boar away, only letting Sans be close to take it.

 

Reaper stretched on the ground, his side pressing to Papyrus as he laid back down, the young skeleton squealing in delight.

 

“We don’t mind, but uh, we need the boar to cook it…” Hearth muttered, looking at Sans as he backed away from Death and the boar.

  
  


Sans glanced at the boar. Oh boy. This wasn’t going to be fun.

 

“k, lemme just…” He tried to pick it up by the legs, not exactly wanting to smush the boars bloodied body to his clothes. But he couldn’t quite find the leverage to lift it up this way, instead dragging the dead animal over the ground towards Hearth.

  
  


Hearth bent down and slowly moved his hands towards the boar, looking at Death the whole time to see if he had a problem with it, Death did. He whipped his tail at his hands, making him back away as the demon hissed.

 

The bigger demon grunted, getting up and picking the boar back up, heading to the carriage, ignoring a yelping Death, who tackled Sans to get ahold of him quickly, then lifting them both up so Death can carry Sans easier to hurriedly follow Reaper.

  
  


“uh… thanks reaper,” Sans uttered out a bit surprised, hanging from Death as he flew them both over to them. Grillby was watching them surprised and tired, but followed them as well when Gaster and Papyrus seemed to do so, too.

 

Guess they were having boar today. Grillby went over to Hearth to help him prepare the fire. It’s been a while since they’re cooked something this big over an open fire, but it’d just mean more food for them.

 

...If Death and Reaper won’t eat it away from them.

  
  


Turns out, Reaper and Death didn’t eat it away from them, but Death did try to steal a few bites from Sans’. Huffing loudly with his head laying on Sans lap, looking up at him with big hollow sockets as he watched Sans eat, whining softly.

  
  


“you’ve ‘ad a whole herd, man!” Sans complained, trying to keep his food out of Death’s reach. Meanwhile Papyrus was already peeling off pieces out of his own, waving it in the air a little, before cooing at the demon.

 

“PSST, DEATH, HERE!”

  
  


Death crawled to Papyrus, munching on the pieces of meat Papyrus gave him, giving him licks on the face before resting his head on his lap, cooing softly. Reaper was behind Papyrus, head going around the skeleton to sniff Death’s face and licking it all over to get all the smears of meat off.

  
  


Papyrus was giggling, sticking his tongue out to Sans as he stole his lap demon. He peeled off another piece of meat, holding it towards the bigger demon.

  
“WOULD YOU LIKE SOME, TOO???”

  
  


Reaper took it gratefully, licking Papyrus’ face twice with his big orange tongue, also laying his head on the free spot on Papyrus’ lap, stealing little licks on Death’s face, getting a few back from his smaller brother.

  
  


Grillby watched them interact curiously, Papyrus now proudly continuing to eat his meat with two demons on his lap, while Sans mourned his loss. He was surprised at how well they suddenly got along. Surprised at how easy the demons suddenly were to get along with.

 

...Yes, it had been his idea to let them stay with them, but… he still had thought they might be more difficult. So far they were cooperating so smoothly, not attacking any of them, only seeming a bit defensive every now and then, but it was easy to avoid those situations.

 

When they had Death in the cage he seemed so different. Aggressive sometimes, or just completely distant. Had they really been doing him this bad when they kept him in the cage. 

 

...Of course they had. It wasn’t hard at all to figure out that keeping someone prisoner would make them this much worse, but… the idea that they’ve done this to Death, it hurt him. There was nothing he could say as an excuse, except that they were all scared for their lives.

  
  


Death and Reaper ended up eating the bones and other parts of the boar nobody wanted, only leaving the skull, half of the spine, and the pelvis.

 

Hearth glanced uncomfortably at Gaster. “What about the village, they wanted you to slay the demons. What do we tell them?” They weren’t going to kill Death and Reaper, but the village wouldn’t like that one bit. They asked Gaster to kill them, not let them live and just… not do what he was asked to.

 

  
“The village has asked for my help, and this is how I decided to help them,” Gaster declare as they all got back onto the carriage. It was time to start heading back, though… Gaster was a little hesitant to go back to the castle just yet.

 

“If they do not like my ways, they have to learn to live with it. The villagers have no control over me, only the king and the queen do.”

 

“damnn, pops’s goin’ rogue,” Sans hollered from a bit back, Gaster rolling his eyes at his son.

 

“I am not going rogue, Sans,” he told him. “I am merely using my authority to not let a village tell me what to do.”   
  
“ _ going rogue, _ ” Sans said again, quieter this time, leaning a bit into Hearth and Grillby as he whispered it.

  
  


“rogue!” Death copied, chirping happily. His older brother snickering animalically beside him, amused at having his brother copy his mate.”rogue!!”

  
  


Sans looked at Death with big eyes and a bigger grin. “oh my god!” He almost screeched. “see! ‘e’s agreein’ with me! goin’ rogue! goin’ rogue!” Sans began chanting the last part, as Gaster wasn’t even paying too much attention to it anymore, only shaking his head with a small sigh.

  
  


“rogue! rogue!” Death cheered, glancing at his brother, making Reaper huff. 

 

“ROGUE.” He said simply, hearing his brother cheer for him, making a smile run across his face. “ROGUE!”

 

Hearth snorted, watching Sans make the demons chant with him, making poor Gaster suffer even more. Soon watching Reaper chirp along, slowly getting more lively, Death pressing himself to Sans feet while copying Sans as much as he could with only a few words.

  
  


Papyrus was trying to keep himself from laughing, two demons and a monster chanting at Gaster to go rogue, while the great sorcerer looked like he had given up on any hope, resting his head in his hands.

 

“PLEASE,” Papyrus tried to sound serious, though there was a hint of laughter in his voice. “DON’T BE SO MEAN TO HIM!!!”


	16. daddy issues

The village  _ didn’t  _ like that Gaster was keeping the demons alive, but what else can they do, Gaster was at least taking the demons away.

 

Now leaving the village, everyone in the carriage. “So… what now? We can’t really bring two demons into the south kingdom, can’t we? Where would they go now?” Hearth looked up to Gaster. It was true, the demons couldn’t come with them to the south kingdom, even if they weren’t going back there now. But later, what will they do with the demons?

  
  


Gaster nodded as Heath brought it up, Sans and Papyrus watching their father nervously. Would they have to let go of the demons after all?   
  
“The king and queen would never tolerate two demons in their close defenses,” The sorcerer mused out. “Not before we haven’t made sure they’re safe to be around. Grillby?”   
  
The elemental looked up, sitting up straight and surprised. “Yes, sir?”   
  
“You said you wanted to help the demons learn not to attack people. I’d say we keep traveling to do so on our journeys. Watch their process.”   
  
Grillby nodded, only looking up to ask a question. “Where do we travel to?”   
  
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Sans?”   
  
Sans blinked surprised, before quickly fishing the map out of his hands. “uh, there’s a smallish village some days from here to the north. but if we head slightly more to the east we should reach a bigger one by, like, a week or two?” He hoped he wasn’t wrong, he hadn’t been keeping track how fast this carriage went. But Gaster seemed satisfied, giving his son a small, proud smile.

 

“We’ll go there, then,” he said, before informing the servant driving their carriage.

  
  


Death cooed softly at Sans, hiding his face into his stomach, horns so close to poking his ribs. Reaper was a lot the same, but more pressing to Gaster and Papyrus’ legs. They both weren’t really listening to anything the others were saying, Death only wanting attention from his mate and Reaper wanting to be petted.

 

They were like big demonic dogs, cuddly and not at all evil, if you ignore the dried blood on them.

  
  


Sans made a small noise as Death snuggled into him, putting his arms around Death’s neck to hold him close, gently scratching the back of his skull. Papyrus noticed the demon by his feet as well. He bent down, a bit hesitant at first, before placing his hand on Reaper’s skull, giving him gentle pets, waiting for if he would give any kind of negative reaction and he should stop.

  
  


Both demons relaxed as they were lovingly pet, enjoying the time where they can rest and be safe.

 

-

 

A sorcerer was riding through the land on his trusty horse. He had been on a long mission, and he wasn’t slowing down at all.

 

His two beautiful children were killed. By demons raiding his home town, the town he entrusted to take care of his little ones as he had to leave for a important mission, one too dangerous to take two babies with.

 

Yet after coming home, seeing his town in ruins, half eaten skeletons on the ground, claw marks everywhere, the stench of death and despair. He has been tracking these demons for months, always seeing towns and villages come to ruins at the demons wake. He was close, he could feel it, either the demons were backtracking, or they were becoming slower.

 

Either way, he will avenge his two sweet children, the babies he left to be cared for, yet died only years ago? He doesn’t know, he only hopes they are with the demons, since their little home in the village was bare of any claw marks and death.

 

-

 

A few days into the trip, Death and Reaper has jumped out the carriage multiple times to chase wildlife. Often not being able to sit still and only breaking when a herd of a type of animal was nearby. Sometimes they eat herds of a farmer, having said farmer either scream in terror, or chase after them with a pitch fork.

  
  


“OKAY, DO YOU SEE THOSE SMALL WALLS?” Papyrus tried to explain to the demons, pointing back at the farmers sheep field, now lacking any sheep. “THOSE ARE MADE BY PEOPLE TO PROTECT THEIR HERDS! THEY NEED THEIR HERDS TO GET FOODS AND MATERIALS TO SURVIVE AND SELL, IF THEY LOSE THEM, THEY WILL BE IN A VERY POOR SHAPE. DO YOU WANT THIS POOR FARMER TO NOT BE ABLE TO FEED THEIR FAMILY?”

  
  


Reaper looked like he was asked a million dollar question, sweating slightly under Papyrus’ gaze, not sure if going with his honest answer is the right one. While Death was playing with all the fluffy fur they now had, rolling around in it and ignoring Papyrus.

  
  


Papyrus sighed, already about to explain it again, before Gaster straightened up.

 

“We’re being followed,” he said, his tone cold and serious. “Stop the carriage.”

 

The servant was already doing so as Sans glanced at his father surprised and confused. “what? why!? you  _ just _ said we’re bein’ followed!” Did he  _ want _ them to get caught by whoever was after them? It was probably someone tracking the demons, or one of the farmers! 

 

“They’re fast,” Gaster said as the carriage came to a halt. He took his staff into a strong hold. “They were going to catch up either way.”   
  
He stepped out of the carriage, facing where he sensed the sorcerer coming from. They were powerful, no doubt, and they were on a mission.

  
  


The rider soon came into view, the horse galloping towards them remarkably fast, only slowing when it approached Gaster. Stopping the horse and jumping off with ease, the tall figure stared down Gaster. His robe was black, with a long cloak behind them.

 

He stood tall, his horse staying close and ever loyal. “You have two demons in your care that I must do business with.” Looking at the carriage with his piercing eye lights.

  
  


“I have to apologize, but I can and will not let you harm these demons,” Gaster replied towards the sorcerer, standing his ground towards him. He only glanced over to his son when he saw Sans hurrying out of the carriage, fuming in anger.

  
“No, stay inside,” Gaster said curtly. “Stay with the demons.”

 

Sans hesitated. He didn’t  _ want _ to hide and listen to some ass wanting to hurt his mate, but Gaster was right. Someone had to stay with the demons to protect them.

  
  


“They killed my babies in cold blood, they weren’t even at adulthood yet! Not to mention murdered and destroyed the village they were in! They are a menace, are you really going to protect that?!” A staff appeared from between the robes, long and elegant, already getting into position to attack.

  
  


“You have no right to judge these demons,” Gaster replied, his own staff strong in his hands. “They may have done mistakes, but so has every living being on this earth. They are not bad people.”   
  
He pounded his staff on the ground once, a small shockwave of dark magic passing through everyone around Gaster. Not in a harmful way yet, he wasn’t attacking yet, but as a warning that he was not scared to.

 

“I refuse to let those two demons get harmed out of blind revenge.”

  
  


The figure put his staff in front of him to block the shock wave from getting near him, a bright purple barrier stopping it from even so much as grazing him.

 

The action caught both Reaper’s and Death’s attention, climbing over Sans like he was like a harmless obstacle to climb over. The demons watched as Gaster faced off against a shadowed figure, when the piercing gaze met theirs, it was like time had slowed.

 

The hooded figure’s sockets widen, recognizing the demon’s faces even with the demonic touch. “Russ…. Comic…”

 

The words did something to Death and Reaper, they both flinched when those words were called, staring at the figure silently, not knowing what to do.

 

The figure threw off his hood, revealing a skeleton, he had a scar going from his right socket upwards, and a scar going from his left socket downwards. “You’re….. alive?”

  
  


Sans hurried out of the carriage again, placing himself in front of Death and Reaper protectively. “ _ who are you!? _ ” He hissed, his tone sharp and aggressive. “and what do you want!?”

  
  


The skeleton straighten, looking down at Sans with hard eyes. “I am Wingdings Aster, the great sorcerer of the light, move aside young warlock, those are my sons!” He flicked his staff at Sans, making him be dragged to the side so he was able to see the demons. “Yes… they are, my babies… what happened to you…?”

  
  


Sans growled,  _ actually _ growled, deep and guttural, as he was simply dragged aside by the other skeleton’s magic. “don’t you  _ dare _ get any close to my-” 

 

But he got stopped by a hand to his shoulder, Gaster looking at his son with piercing eyes.

  
“If he’s saying the truth he has a right to talk to them,” Gaster stated, but it did  _ nothing _ to sate Sans’ protectiveness. What if he was  _ not _ saying the truth!? What if it was just a trick to get at them! 

 

Grillby, Hearth and Papyrus were slowly starting to file out of the carriage too, the priests already keeping their weapons ready to strike if need to.

  
  


Aster moved his hand slowly to the demons, approaching them carefully, while the demons watched his every move, confused and wary of him.

 

He smelled like them, older, stronger, not a demon, but still like them. Who was this man?

 

“Russ.” Aster whispered, Reaper flinching once again, making Aster pause, then looked at Death confused. “Comic?” Death also flinched.

 

“Boys…. I left you in good hands… what happened to make you like this?” His hand gently went to touch Russ’ head, the demon staring at his hand in wonder and confusion. Only when the hand touched his head, Reaper looked like he didn’t know what to do, getting a little fidgety. Aster did the same with his other hand to Death, putting his staff down to touch Death’s head, getting the same reaction.

 

When the demon brothers provided no answers, he looked up at the monsters that were traveling with them. “What happened to my boys, did you do this warlock?” He looked at Gaster, protectiveness in his voice as he pushed the demons closer to him. The demons having no idea how to respond to someone that smells like them, yet not know them at all.

  
  


Sans growled deeper as Aster suddenly pulled the demons even closer, wanting so badly to get this damn  _ stranger _ away from his mate! But he was being held back by Gaster, now having an arm tightly but comfortably around Sans’ chest.

 

“I haven’t met the demons until some days back,” Gaster told the sorcerer. “My boys have met them before, but they had already been demons to that point.”   
  
Papyrus was nodding now, not sure what was happening, but agreeing with what his father had said.

  
“THERE WERE SCARED VILLAGERS THAT TOLD MY BROTHER TO KILL DEATH, BUT WE TOOK HIM WITH US INSTEAD!” Papyrus tried to explain. “HE WAS DEMON THEN!”

  
  


Aster looked conflicted, unsure of what to say. None of this was providing answers as to why his children were like this, and now the scene he made in his old town doesn’t make sense no more.

 

He had thought the village was attacked by demons, killing off all the villagers, Comic and Russ, able to use sorcerer magic, were only able to protect themselves, putting up some barrier to keep away the demons. He used that as an explanation as to why the whole village was attacked but his old home spared of any marks and claw marks.

 

He saw bodies of ones he once knew, yet none of his children, their home was only moved around hurriedly, but not anything broken or attacked, no break in, nothing. He thought his children have moved around quickly in their home while they had the barrier up, preparing for escape, causing the disarray. That they fled, but might have been caught and died someplace else, or was taken. Aster really hoped for the latter.

 

So he tracked the demons down, town after town, village after village, he saw the same marks and path of chaos from the same demons, but he would of never thought the demons were his children themselves.

 

“I… need to find out what happened…. I wish to take my children back to our home village, there I will find the answer why they are the way they are.” His hand grazed the mark on Death’s shoulder, he looked at Sans. “I need to find out what hurt them enough to become this…”

  
  


“‘m  _ not _ lettin’ you take death,” Sans growled at the sorcerer, while Gaster tried to calm his son down.

  
“I think that might actually be a good idea,” he told his son, Sans turning around with betrayal and anger in his eyes. “Relax! Relax. I didn’t mean Aster taking the demons from us. I meant going to their home village, finding out what happened.”

 

Grillby perked up too now, glancing from the demons to Aster thoughtfully. “...Yes, that might actually be helpful if we want to help them,” he mused. “We don’t really have a fixed destination anyways, do we?”   
  
Gaster shook his head no.

  
  


Aster looked at Sans, determined. “May I take my sons… your mate… to our home village?”

  
  


Sans blinked surprised, scared for a moment.  _ How did he know? _ But he decided not to push it, instead giving Aster a hard glare. “...if they’re fine with it,” he decided. “but we’re comin’, too.”

  
  


“Of course.” Aster answered with no delay, before looking at Death and Reaper. “Hear that boys, want to go back home?” Reaper cocked his head to the side in question, while Death looked at Sans a little lost, like he didn’t know what to do or what was even up or down anymore. In the end Reaper chirped, making Aster nod and get up. “Alright then, let’s go home.”


	17. ask me about my tragic backstory

Aster rode in the carriage, his horse tied to the others, going at a pace the other horses could go with.

 

There, Aster told them of returning home, only to see it in ruins, explained what he saw and how he came to the conclusion that his boys were either taken, or killed. He told of his mission to find said demons, never knowing it was his children the whole time. Going from ruined towns to villages, and even showing the group a painting from Death’s and Reaper’s old home. It was a painting of two young happy skeletons, with many people around them. Death and Reaper looked so happy there.

 

This was how Aster recognised Death and Reaper in the first place. “It was too dangerous, I thought leaving them in the hands of my hometown would be safe, but I suppose that was a bad call, for something like this to happen to them.” Aster thought he could trust them, that they would protect them, he trusted them, they trusted _him._ They all grew up together, he doesn’t understand what caused his boys to grow so much hate as to turn to demons.

  


They all glanced over the group painting, spotting Death and Reaper in them easily. And they looked so happy in it. Looked so innocent, loved. It left a bitter taste in all of their mouths.

 

If that’s who they’d been, _what_ could’ve possibly happened to turn them to what they were _now._ Who or what could’ve possibly hurt them _this much?_

 

“ _you_ let ‘em get hurt!” Sans finally growled, growled at Aster while glaring at him with a fire in his eyes. But Grillby kept him back.

 

“He couldn’t have known,” the flame said softly, and of course Sans knew he was right. And that he was in no place to judge in the first place. But seeing that they used to be so happy, that they could’ve _stayed_ this happy, it made him and Grillby both feel equally sad as angry. Except Sans needed an outlet for his anger, needed someone to blame, and Aster was the only one here for that.

  


“If I would have known this is what would become of them, I would have never left them there!” Aster argued, narrowing his sockets at Sans, power coming off him in waves.

 

Death looked between the two, something screaming inside him that these two shouldn’t be this way, and oddly enough, he feels insecure all of a sudden, like he was exposed. He didn’t listen at all to what was going on, but maybe he should start paying attention, he is clearly missing something. But first and foremost, make sure mate is okay.

 

Death laid his head on Sans lap, looking up at him in question and crooning softly, like he was asking if he _was_ alright.

  


Sans was still glowering at Aster, only stopping when he felt the head on his lap. He softened immediately as he looked down at Death, gently bending down to put his arms around him and pull him up on his lap. He pulled him close, burying his face in the nape of Death’s neck where the mark was, smelling him, smelling himself on his mate.

 

“...wha’ _happened_ to you?” Sans breathed out, quietly and sadly.

  


Death turned his head to look at the side of Sans’ skull, not sure what he meant… man, he really should of been paying attention. Nevermind that, just make Sans laugh, so to get rid of this tension he has. The only way he knows that makes Sans laugh for sure is when he attacks his face with lots of big wet licks, so that what he was going to do.

 

He quickly licked Sans’ face, every spot he could, as slobbery and wet as ever, he covered Sans’ face until it looked like he had a facemask.

  


By the time Death had completely covered his face with demon slobber, Sans was already giggling uncontrollably, trying to stop Death from covering him in more spit. He had been surprised at first, only laughing slightly, but it was hard to stay upset when your mate was all over you with his tongue.

 

Papyrus was watching the two amused, but quickly focused back onto Aster and the painting. “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT HAPPENED???”

  


The Great sorcerer shook his head, “I told you I thought they were killed. But to become demons… one has to be consumed with negative emotions, or cursed. Either my boys were cursed, or something very bad happened to them to fill their souls with so much hate.” He looked out the window of the carriage with dull sockets. ”Tell me something. Each demon gets certain traits by how they were wronged. If one was imprisoned and turned to a demon, the demon will imprison every being they see. Or someone that was left for dead, if hatred consumed them then they will rise up and leave others for dead. So, knowing this now, do my boys show a unique trait?”

 

Hearth was the first one to speak up. “They eat _a lot_. They are also murder happy, killing everything they see and eating it.” He remembered the time when Death went loose, the smell of blood everywhere, dead bodies scattered.

 

Aster thought over the new information, playing with it a little until a thought would come up. “Ah…well then… to me…… it sounds like they were starved. So they were turned to a demon that eats a lot.” Aster muttered softly, his hands going to hold his face as he let out a stressed sigh.

  


“WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO STARVE THEM???” Papyrus asked, his voice sad and scared, while Sans just kind of caved in on himself, suddenly avoiding looking at any of them.

 

Listen, he had been _scared._ Death had tried to kill him as much as Sans had, and the time he _did_ try to feed him, he… got bit. It wasn’t that he had _wanted_ to starve Death, it was just that he had no idea how to deal with a demon in his care.

 

But Sans still muttered out a quiet, “...’m sorry…,” towards Death, quiet enough that he wasn’t even sure if the demon could hear.

  


Thankfully he did, purring into Sans and giving him a small kitten lick. The carriage stopped, Reaper pushing the ones in his way to the window, looking out. He froze and backed away from the window, hissing at what was outside. This got Death’s attention, trying to free himself from Sans to look out.

 

“We are here.” Aster said above everyone, getting up to head outside.

  


Sans let Death slip out of his arms, looking after him a bit surprised.

 

Gaster followed Aster out of the carriage, glancing around to see the destroyed village, leftover skeletons, deep claw marks, piles of rot that must’ve been foods once. The demon’s presence was all over the place, weathered and worn through time, but still strong and _there._

 

Something bad happened here, something so horrible they could _sense_ it in the air. Gaster could, but so could Papyrus and Grillby once they followed the powerful sorcerer and warlock out of the carriage. Only Sans stayed inside, waiting for Death and Reaper to leave first if they were going to.

  


But they didn’t, they curled up and stayed away, like this place was painful, scarred, like they will get hurt here, not safe. Reaper growled lowly, but one can tell how close he was to whimpering, his body shaking and the need to hide his face. Death was much the same, only letting out two small whimpers before going quiet.

 

Hearth looked back into the carriage, looking at the demons, then at Sans, then back at the demons. “Are you going to coax them out, or stay here with them?”

  


“i don’ wanna force ‘em anywhere.” _Not again anyways._

 

Sans sat down close to Death and Reaper, giving them both soft pets, before lying down so his head was on Death’s ribs, arm gently around him, the other on Reaper’s skull, giving him little scratches. He didn’t know what was up with them, but they were obviously in distress.

  


Aster looked around the village, sighing at seeing what remained of his friends that he called family. “I have a spell, that will go through my boys, and through them, we can get a projection of what has happened, they are like glass, the spell light, making an image.” He turned to look at them all, only to frown when he couldn’t see his boys.

 

“It won’t hurt them, not at all, where are my boys?” Aster walked back into the carriage, watching his boys curl and hide. “Oh no my children, it’s okay, nothing will hurt you ever again! You are safe, _never again shall you be hurt._ ”

 

Each of his hands went to pet their skulls, Reaper looking up at him when he pet his head, while Death glanced at him for a few seconds before curling up to Sans again.

 

“Never again.” Aster repeated softly, both brothers look at him with bigger sockets when they heard the determination and certainty in his voice.

  


“e’s right, y’know. ‘m not lettin’ you get hurt ever again…” Sans muttered, holding Death a little closer when he said it, but the words went out to both of the demons.

 

Grillby glanced into the carriage curiously, seeing Sans so calm around the demons, and he remembered when he had been wary of Death, scared even not too long ago.  


Those demons killed his parents, destroyed his town, killed and destroyed _so much._ But he couldn’t find himself to regret his decision on making them join with them. Not after seeing them this peaceful with Sans and Papyrus. Not after seeing who they _used_ to be, after finding out they had been _hurt._

  


“Take all the time you need, we are in no rush, young ones.” Aster muttered, rubbing their backs slowly. So they did, they took their time, slowly, they were coaxed out of the carriage. Taking two hours until they actually stepped out.

 

“Yes, that’s it. Here babies, stay here.” Aster put them in the middle of the town, the rest backing away so Aster can form his spell. “It will not hurt at all, they won’t even feel a graze.” Sans was the most worried of them all, but Aster gave him a small smile.

 

“They will be fine.”

  


Sans tensed when Aster suggested casting any kind of spell on them, not wanting his magic on his mate, not wanting him to hurt them. But everyone else seemed fine with it and Death and Reaper seemed fine with it, so… he decided to tolerate.

  


A light shined from Aster’s staff, before shooting out to Reaper and Death, hitting them and… staying with them, glowing. Before everything around them was covered by the spell, looking like they were back in time, but everything had a brighter hue to it, the bright magic at work.

 

There they saw people moving around the village like normal, taking care of crops, animals, children playing, doing chores, etc. But two beings that stuck out, one a tall skeleton, who was showing off to kids and young adults his combat moves, kicking and punching the air with speed and force, sparks of magic around him. He threw balls of energy at piles of hay, made all these tricks that made people gasp and cheer, the town loved him.

 

Then a smaller skeleton, spinning as his hands glowed with magic, making little stars of different colors and shapes, making every age of children and adult ‘oh’ and ‘ah’. He made little pictures with his flowing magic, blowing snow into kids faces, making them laugh. Making fire for campfires, helping grass grow and come back alive, helping the water become clear.

 

The small skeleton was gifted in magic, figuring out a goal and experimenting with his magic until he found out how to do what he wanted, making all these spells to help him do all these things. The bigger one was the one who helped with labor, being as strong as he is, he was often seen helping others without being asked to.

 

The spell switched to different scenes and times, showing little things like the smaller skeleton doing a silly dance in front of the children while their mothers were washing clothes in the lake. The taller one helping with farming and plowing fields. The smaller one practicing his magic, writing everything down in a journal. The taller one being used as a jungle gym to the toddlers. Many moments, the two skeletons growing and growing, showing the villagers giving them food and any thing they wished for.

 

They all looked happy, making hand made dolls together, helping with chores, making games, playing, all the like. There was even a moment where many huddled to have a painter paint them all, they look the same as the portrait Aster has.

 

But then, everything started to become a darker hue. A priest came into town, wary from his travels, starts preaching and screaming of the two skeletons being demons or warlocks, witches or beasts, a curse. At first the village protected the brothers, defended them, but slowly, after hearing the priest words many time, having repeating themselves for so long, for some reason never leaving and stayed in the village.

 

The villagers started to turn on the skeletons, starting to call them out and scream at them, stopped giving them food, never accepted their help, the mothers won’t let their children near them. Soon something snapped, making the villagers form a mop, storming the brothers hut and forcing them out, throwing everything they had at the fleeing brothers.

 

The brothers ran into the forest, hiding, scared, lonely. After time, so much time passed, no one could tell, the spell didn’t tell or show how long, just that it was a while. The brothers got weaker, crying out for help and wondering if they were going to die.

 

“‘m…. ungry bra’der….” the small one cried, laying on the floor, curling up to hold his stomach as tightly as his little bones can.

 

“I KNOW… ME TOO…”

 

They stayed away from the village, afraid of their hate, loving them too much to bother them with their presence. But as time passed, the brothers started to become more… animal like, forgetful, unsure.

 

“IM HUNGRY, WHY DON’T WE GET FOOD?”

 

“i don’ know.”

 

“THERE IS FOOD, WHY FEEL BAD TO GO THERE?”

 

“i don remember, if can’ remember, not important, ye?”

 

One day, _they_ snapped.

 

“I HATE THEM….. WHY?”

 

“me too, why not ask?”

 

It ended up with the brothers coming back, shaking and hungry, dirty and insane. The villagers screamed and tried to force them out, but something snapped in the two young skeletons, something made them break.

 

The brothers attacked, so hungry they devoured anything near, feeling so much hate and neglect, not sure why but knowing these people were the cause of it. Wanting them to suffer, wanting them to scream, they tore every single one of them open. The ones they once knew, the villagers were always giving them food, that’s what they are doing now, right? So what’s the problem?

 

The whole town was a waste land after the screams died down, claw marks everywhere, blood and smears, death and tears, nothing was spared. The taller ate the farmers he used to help, the smaller ate all the children he used to entertain and play with, they ate everyone they held dear.

 

But for some odd reason, they felt unsatisfied. The priest, they weren’t there, they were nowhere to be found. Not knowing what they were missing, yet still filled with rage, they roared. That was then, a tail, horns, claws, their bone structure started to change, they started to sound more demonic. Hate and dark magic plagued the village, clouding everything.

 

Two demons were born, and they were hungry.

 

The spell stopped, the light disappearing, leaving the village in the ruins it was. Death and Reaper looking back at them confused, unsure of what just happened.

  


Papyrus was lightly sobbing by the time the vision stopped, hugging himself. What happened had been so unfair and cruel, no wonder the two had turned into demons. He couldn’t imagine having to go through that, all alone at such a young age, with no food or shelter.

 

He could feel an arm around him, his father gently pulling him close, reminding him he would never and would’ve never let something like that happen to his own sons. Gaster knew something must’ve happened to the demons, he _knew_ how demons were created, but… _seeing_ it, seeing what happened and what it has done to them, it… wasn’t easy. And he knew it wasn’t easy for anyone else here either.

 

He could see Sans sitting on the ground, face hidden in his arms, like he couldn’t quite watch what they had just seen. He _couldn’t_ watch it. Watching it hurt, watching it made him feel so _unbelievably_ angry, but he couldn’t _do_ anything about it. He had to sit here knowing that this had happened, knowing that this had affected them _forever_ and there was no taking it back. There was no stopping it from happening.

 

It’s _happened._ It’s done its damage.

 

And Sans didn’t know how to deal with it. Didn’t know how to deal with this anger.

  


Aster was on his knees, tears so close to falling from his sockets, staring at his two children looking back at them confused. _This_ is what happened, _this_ is what caused his children to be like this, _this_ is what happened for leaving his children in the care of the people he thought he trusted.

 

These were the people he grew up with, the people that cared for his two boys, but were swayed by some priest that didn’t shut up? That didn’t leave and overstayed their welcome? Like he was doing them a great service and wouldn’t leave until he freed them? Who does he think he is?!

 

Just because you are a priest just means _you_ can decide what’s wrong and what’s right? _He didn’t even get to know them!!!!_

 

Now they are demons, filled with hate, hunger and murder as their purpose.

 

They could of been so much more….

 

Aster slowly got to his feet, wobbled over to the demons, and pulling them to a big hug. Holding them close, like he was protecting them from everything around them. “My boys…”

 

Hearth was looking away, unsure what else to say. His soul felt heavy, he felt so bad for having the demons go through this, then Death having to go through even more when all of them first came into his life.

 

Oof.

 

He was wrong about demons. They all were.

 

“...What do we do…?” Grillby asked, his voice low and quiet, like talking out loud would break something sacred right now. “...How… can we help them?”

 

They had to be able to help them  _ somehow, _ right? If they had been turned demon… they could turn back.  _ Right?  _ Would they have to still their hunger? Have to seek up the priests -  _ the oh-so-familiar priest -  _ to get revenge on them?

  
  


Aster sighed into his son’s neck, holding both as close as he could. “We’ll…. figure that out later. Right now all I want is my boys…” He needs time, time to mourn, time for everything to settle in, time to accept what happened. He just wanted his boys back, but he doesn’t know if he will.

 

Maybe they could find something emotion wise, to get rid of all the negative emotion and just… get them back like that? Would finding the priest turn them back once they got vengeance? Or will it do nothing?

 

So many questions.

 

Death chirped towards Sans, wanting to move towards him but stuck in a weird embrace. But Sans was sitting on the floor and looked very upset, and he can’t get to him. Calling out to him will have to do, since waiting for Sans didn’t seem that promising, especially because Sans looks to be lost in his own little world.

  
  


Sans looked up at the noise, looking towards Death and Reaper, stuck in an embrace probably without even knowing what was going on. Did they even remember what happened to them? They didn’t seem to anymore in the vision, and… maybe that was better. Maybe forgetting it would be better for them.

 

Sans pushed himself off the ground, part of him wanting to go up to Death and take him from Aster. A strong part of him. A very strong part. But Aster was their father, and while he still didn’t like the fact he had left Death and Reaper for  _ this _ to happen to them… He probably both needed and deserved his moment with his sons.

 

‘i’m ok,’ he mouthed to Death instead, trying to look less frustrated and hurt, but instead just looked sympathetic and sad.

  
  


Death didn’t really listen, just made grabby hands at him, chirping every so often. Aster loosened the hug to look at him, then at Sans, he looked like he didn’t want to let Death go though. “I don’t feel right, letting them go again… if you want, you can come next to him?” 

  
  
Sans blinked surprised, not having expected to be invited into a moment like this. But Death seemed to want him close, so he nodded, going up to the small family of sorcerers,  _ real _ sorcerers, and putting his arms around his mate, hugging him close.


	18. oh fuck, that hits the spot

They stayed like this for a while, up until Reaper and Death got fed up and wiggled out of the embrace angrily, running away to try and find food, Death simply dragging Sans with him.

 

Aster watched them go, ideas of spells he could do to change them back floating inside his skull. Maybe he could ask Gaster for help? He was very talented as well, right?

 

He watched Hearth go after the demons, yelling something about coming with them before getting up and heading to Gaster. “Would you like to help me find a way to revert my children to their former selves?”

  
  


Grillby and Papyrus quickly ran after the two demons, Grillby to make sure they wouldn’t maul anything or anyone they shouldn’t and Papyrus because everyone was suddenly running and he wanted to be part of it.

 

Gaster eyes Aster curiously as he headed to him, humming thoughtfully. He had expected something like this. 

 

“You know,” he mused, “reverting someone back from their demon form isn’t something to take so lightly. It’s as least as big as turning into a demon in the first place… if not bigger.”   
  
There hadn’t been many reports of demons turning back to their old selves, most of them only shared through tales and stories, but it was well known under elder warlocks that ‘turning back’ wasn’t always something to astrive.

  
  


“My children are worth everything, the odds will never stop me from giving back the lives they were owed.” Aster stood beside him, looking back at his children, watching them dodge the other monsters and sticking their tongues out. “Will you help me?”

  
  


Gaster followed Aster’s line of sight to watch the demons. They didn’t  _ look _ unhappy, didn’t look like they were bothered by their form. But they also probably didn’t remember anything else. As demons they would never be able to live a life completely accepted by the people around them, would never be able to fully understand people’s norms, when their own were almost nonexistent.

 

He nodded finally. “Very well. I will help you.”

  
  


“Thank you.”

 

-

 

They all decided to visit the brother’s old home, looking around at what was once their home. Death would graze the edges of items like he was remembering, yet again, he wasn't, everything just held something dear to him. Reaper went to a bed and grabbed a stuffed toy on the bed, he looked at it closely, holding it gently, like it was fragile.

 

Reaper at one point opened a latch that lead into a hole under the hut, surprising everyone beside Aster. Death jumped in with no delay or care, followed by a yelping Reaper. There was a den, desks with candles and books, scrolls and many old looking objects. Death was attracted to old looking journals, he cooed at it, opening it and looking at what it held.

 

He started to grab all the ones he felt right, making faces at the ones he discarded, and making a stack of journals on his left. Once he felt like there was no more journals, he grabbed them all and pushed them towards Sans, wanting him to have all his lost journals of magic and his experience with it.

 

Death chirped, “hav’.”

  
  


Sans blinked surprised as he took the journals into his arms, skipping through the pages of one. It documented spells and magical tactics, anything Death seemed to have learned, discovered and experimented with.

 

Did… he want Sans to learn those? Oh. “o-oh, great. books to study…” Sans muttered a bit sarcastically, before realizing he had said it out loud and shooting Death an apologetic look. 

 

“‘m kiddin’,” he said, quickly. “thank you, death.”

  
  


Death narrowed his sockets at him anyways, frowning while his tail whipped around to wack Sans over the head. Huffing at him before walking away with a strut, tail in the air on his all fours. Reaper blinked as his brother walked to him with obvious sass, like a show dog walking with all his importance in his stance.

  
  


“ouch, ouch.” Sans was rubbing the sore spot on his skull where Death had hit him, glaring a bit as he heard Grillby and Papyrus chuckle quietly.    
  
“YOU  _ DID _ DESERVE IT!!!” Papyrus defended himself as he saw his brother’s glare, sticking his tongue out at him. Sans simply huffed, handing the books over to his dad who put them into his much more spacy bag for him.

 

Aster was looking through the books he stored here. Looking at any that involved dark magic and demons, “Gaster, feel free to look at any books, maybe you will find something here?” 

 

Glancing at the warlock putting his son’s journals in his bag, and wave of possessiveness washing over him, but he shoved it down before it could fully rear it's head. No, his son gave them to Sans, its not his, no matter how much you want to see his son’s discovers. 

  
  


Gaster nodded at the sorcerer once he stored the journals, already glancing over the rest of the books himself. Papyrus seemed to do the same, though there wasn’t a lot he quite understood. Magic, to Papyrus, was something he did naturally, not study. It meant he wasn’t exactly the most skilled, didn’t know the most complicated tricks, but  _ what _ Papyrus could do came naturally, came with complete and easy control.

 

Something Sans always envied his brother for.

 

Grillby was sticking to Hearth as the two powerful sorcerers examined the bookshelves. “...Do you remember anything from our training?” He asked his brother, quietly, hoping the others couldn’t hear him. They were  _ priests, _ reverting someone back from being a demon should be something  _ they _ should be able to do more than anyone else, right?   
  
But everything he could remember about handling demons, from banning them to purifying them, usually ended into the whole person being affected, not just the evil inside them.

  
  


“Not anything safe…” Hearth whispered, looking at Death curl around Reaper and glare at Sans, sticking his tongue out. 

 

“Have you ever tried to… revert a demon back to what they once were?“ Aster skimmed through the books, but glanced at Gaster to let him know he was talking to him. 

  
  


“Most demons I have met are either banished or gone,” Gaster admitted slightly ruefully. Before Death and Reaper, Gaster hadn’t considered helping one as an option.

 

He  _ knew _ it was a possibility. Possibly even something he  _ should _ have done in some cases. But Gaster has met demons, enough of them, and if they weren’t evil themselves, they were corrupted to a point Gaster couldn’t see a way through them.

 

He wasn’t young. He wasn’t as pure hearted as his sons. He didn’t have the patience to get to know the demons he had to stop to protect the innocent, didn’t have the time. He did what he had deemed best in those moments, which was usually getting rid of them in some way.

  
  


Reaper crawled beside Aster’s leg, resting his head on his hip and looking up at him, Aster cooed and rubbed his skull. “Awww, my precious baby~” 

 

Death, annoyed that he was left alone, crawled over to Gaster, resting his head on Gaster’s hip, whining slightly to get his attention. Hands moving up like he was asking to be picked up, thankfully he was small enough to be picked up, not like his brother. 

 

That didn't mean Reaper didn't try, Aster happily doing his best to fulfill Reaper's needs. 

  
  


Gaster looked more than surprised as Death suddenly came to him whining, looking down at the demon for a moment, before looking at the kids and the priests helplessly. Grillby gave him a quick shrug as if to tell him he didn’t know any better than Gaster did. But Papyrus quickly made a small hand motion, telling Gaster to go on. So he bent down a bit hesitantly, before picking Death up and holding him in his arms.

  
  


Death curled around Gaster's torso, his head snuggled into his neck, his arms and legs tightly around him, with his tail wrapped around his hip. Death’s wings mostly laying on his back, sometimes flapping the slightest bit. 

 

Reaper was much the same, but he dragged Aster to the floor, legs and arms wrapped around his body, tail around his stomach, wings also hugging him. 

 

Both demons started to purr into their new cuddle buddies, sometimes nuzzling into them. 

 

Hearth smiled softly, “That's kinda cute...“

  
  


Grillby watched the demons with crossed arms, eyes wide in surprise as they seemed to just cuddle into them. “Why do they never… do that with me…?” He asked, not entirely realizing he was saying it out loud.

 

He’s seen the demons snuggle up to almost all of them now, the only exception being Hearth and himself, and he hadn’t entirely realized before he  _ wanted _ their trust like that, but realizing they were the only ones to not have it… made him feel a little left out.

 

Oof.

 

Sans seemed to have found his way between the two elementals, patting them both on the arm a bit roughly. “don’t worry ‘bout it, ‘m sure they’ll come around eventually.” But there was something a bit cocky in his voice.

  
  


“Hmmm, have you thought that it may be your clothing that makes them wary of you? “ Aster asked, patting Reaper's back softly.

 

Hearth looked down at his clothes. “Oh.” They have been wearing priest clothes, and as they all found out, the demon brothers have a bad experience with a priest. 

 

He started to remove his robes, leaving only his bottom clothing under. 

  
  


Grillby watched as Hearth began to, quite literally, disrobe, quickly following to do the same until he was only left with his clothes underneath.

 

He felt sort of exposed without his church’s robes on him. Of course he’s worn other things before than his priest robes, but they were still part of his identity. Being a  _ priest _ was part of his identity. And a priest didn’t just travel through the world not wearing their robes.

 

But if… they made the demons uncomfortable, wary, nervous. He wasn’t going to hesitate giving them up forever if he had to.

  
  


Death and Reaper watch from their spot, Reaper cooing softly while Death gave a small lick to Gaster's cheek before looking up at him. 

 

“BURN IT.” Reaper commanded, looking at the robes. “CURSED ROBES.” 

 

Death squeaked in agreement. 

  
  


Grillby’s eyes widened a bit hurt at the words. Yes, he was willing to rid of them, but… he was still hurt, he wouldn’t have to. But he glanced at Reaper and then at Death and he  _ remembered _ what he had seen in the visions, what they all had seen. And he nodded, holding his own robes tight, before letting them go up in flames, controlled but still big and powerful enough for Sans to take a startled step back.

  
  


Hearth was not far behind, looking tired, glancing at the demons for what they might say. 

 

Death chirped, while Reaper purred in consent. “thank ya.” The smaller demon muttered, looking at them lazily with his head laying on the warlock’s shoulder tilted to the side slightly. 

 

Aster nodded to them, “Thank you for doing that, I know it might have been disrespectful on their part, but still, thank you.“

 

Hearth nodded, “The church and what it represents was a lie anyways, I will not be apart of something so…. faul.“ he looked at his brother to get his opinion on the matter. 

  
  


Grillby glanced at his brother, a bit surprised to hear him say that after they’ve seen the church destroyed like that, after they’ve seen their parents killed. But he nodded. 

 

“...I suppose you are right,” he said with a little sigh. He never took what the church taught by face value, but that didn’t mean he was entirely too keen on abandoning it completely. Hearth  _ was _ right, though, and Grillby supposed that burning the robes with the church’s emblem for the wellbeing of the very demons their church would have wanted to kill most likely, it seemed awfully ironic.

 

-

 

They stayed in the den for a while, everyone getting comfortable while Aster and Gaster look through the books, comparing their notes and thoughts. Death and Reaper were shooed away because they were too cuddly and distracting. 

 

Now Death was hesitatingly crawling up to Grillby, looking at where the burnt robe once was then back at him, whining softly. 

 

Reaper had flopped on top of Hearth not that long ago, crushing the flame. But Hearth didn't mind, he only patted his back while the demon slept. 

  
  


Grillby watched the demon come to him, carefully kneeling down, almost scared to scare the demon off. But he opened his arms, welcoming the demon to climb into his hold if he really wanted to.

  
  


Death sniffed his arms and chest before climbing on him, his arms, legs and tail curling around him like a Koala, head hidden in his neck. After a moment of feeling the warmth, Death started to purr, the end of his tail flicking from side to side. 

  
  


As soon as he felt Death in his arms, comfortable and content, he rose up again, holding the demon close and dear. He felt so good in his arms. So light and small, like something innocent he needed to protect, yet underneath the purr laid power and strength and pride, making  _ Grillby _ feel proud, honored to have his trust.

 

...And glad.

 

He felt so right in his arms, and suddenly Grillby understood why his brother had been so interested in him from the beginning on.

  
  


Hearth looked up from the ground, watching Grillby cradle Death like a baby. “Well you look happy.” He said, from his spot on the floor, a big demon laying on him like a tanning rock.

  
  


“I am,” Grillby replied without delay, throwing Hearth a quick, content smile, holding Death the tiniest bit tighter as he gently ran his hand over the demon’s back.

 

Sans was sitting on the ground again, watching them with a bit of a pout on his mouth. He didn’t exactly like the way everyone seemed to get to hold Death,  _ his _ mate, this close all of the sudden. But he knew they weren’t making any actual moves on Death and Death seemed content, so…

 

He lied back until his back hit the ground, with a small huff pouting up at the ceiling. 

  
  


They ended up staying for a few days, having to eat the food they saved in the carriage. Death and Reaper didn’t accept it though, they disappear every so often to get food, sometimes dragging something with them and Death giving it to Sans.

 

Now was one of those times, Death and Reaper just came back from their hunt, Death dragging a whole cow to Sans feet, then looking up in hopes for Sans to accept it. Reaper going over and flopping on the floor near Papyrus,  _ fully  _ expecting to be pet.

 

Aster and Gaster were close to a breakthrough, shooing everyone out the den to not be disturbed.

  
  


So they were outside the house, Grillby and Hearth preparing a fire for the cow Death had brought Sans, who had almost managed to drag it two feet to them. Papyrus was pretty much lying on top of Reaper, giving him big rubs. Sans quickly decided to join them, too, holding Death by his clawed hands as he dragged them both over to Reaper and Papyrus. He sat down so he was leaning against Reapers side, pulling Death onto his lap.

 

He had a perfect view onto the two elementals working on their food. It… had been weird seeing them without their priests robes so much. Oddly more alive, maybe because their current clothes pronounced their shapes more, rather than concealing them like the robes had.

  
  


Death flopped onto Sans, licking his face the second he sat on Sans’ lap. “pay ‘ten’ion ta me.” Death muttered, pulling at Sans shirt. He even went so far as to growl at him when he didn’t get what he wanted.

  
  


Sans turned his head so he was facing him, giving him a cheeky smile, before licking him back once, waiting to see Death’s reaction.

  
  


Death gasped, his head backing into his body like a turtle, letting out a little squeak. His expression quickly turned to one of annoyance, he quickly got close and pressed his teeth to Sans’ teeth, like he remembered Sans do to him before. Backing up and looking at him smugly. “heh.”

  
  


Sans’ eyes widened as his face grew slightly blue. God damn this demon and how much Sans wanted to pull him close and into a real kiss. He knew he shouldn’t do it, didn’t want to weird the demon out or scare him away - or him to bite his tongue off. But he was too slow to keep his craving from taking control, already leading Death to his face again, welcoming him in a kiss.

  
  


Death crooned in question, but let Sans do as he wished, bringing him closer until their teeth touched again. He let Sans lead, opening his mouth when Sans’ tongue felt like it was trying to enter. He licked at Sans tongue, tasting Sans for the first time, even going beyond that to taste the inside of his mouth. 

 

This felt weird, but a part of him, a part of him that almost always stays quiet, told him this was special, good, intimate. That side barely speaks up, but when it does, Death learned to listen to it, so he did, he did what he felt was right, in result, deepening the kiss.

  
  


Sans closed his eyes, his hands roaming ever so slightly over Death’s back, feeling him, but more importantly letting  _ Death _ feel him. Letting him feel his touch, his closeness, his presence. The inexperienced but curious movements of his tongue, trying to taste as much of Death’s mouth as he could.

 

He hadn’t thought Death would actually respond to the kiss, let alone  _ deepen  _ it. But the fact that he had, it… it filled Sans with something warm and exciting, a feeling he wanted to keep forever. To stay forever.

  
  


“We did it!!!” Aster screamed, bursting out the hut with waving arms and almost squealing in joy. “We did it, we can turn them back!”

 

Death grumbled lowly when he parted from Sans, feeling like something was robbed from him. To make it up he just snuggled into Sans like he was trying to savor it or hide away.

  
  


Gaster came bursting out only moments later, looking about just as excited as Aster. Before he halted himself, coughing once into his fist and pretending to be a serious, wise old man.

 

Sans didn’t care anyways, though, simply holding Death slightly tighter, glancing at the two elders miffed. They had ruined their moment, and Sans wasn’t sure how to feel about the reason why they had either.   
  
He… should be excited. He knew he should. Gaster and Aster were, and even Grillby and Papyrus looked up with hope in their eyes. But Sans just… he was scared. 

 

If they’d turn the demons back to their old self, would they still be the people they knew now? Would they remember them at all? How much would stay as it was and how much would… change?

  
  


Reaper pounced at Aster, letting Papyrus, Death and Sans fall to the ground now that his body was not there to support them. 

 

“Wow, wow, alright then Russ don't worry. I just need you to to come here please.” He looked at Death next, waiting for him to come next to his brother. Death did after a bit more grumbling, sitting on the floor next to his brother and leaning into him like he couldn't hold his own weight. 

 

Aster nodded, pulling two little bottles of a puke green liquid, holding them out to both the demons. “Here, take these.“

 

The moment Reaper was given the bottle he turned away in disgust, Death already crawling back to Sans like he was trying to sneak away from Aster, even if he was in plain view. 

  
  


Sans was giggling a bit mischievously at Aster’s failed attempt, gladly taking Death back into his arms. “y’re gonna have t’ try harder than that,” he said, throwing Aster a shit-eating grin.

 

But Papyrus was already quick to follow up anyways. “OH! OH!!!” He chirped excitedly as he got an idea. “WE COULD PUT IT ON SOME OF THE COW MEAT!!! WOULD THAT STILL WORK???”

  
  


“Y-yes, I think that will work. Yes, very clever Papyrus, well done.” Aster nodded, looking over to the flames and the meat. “Is the cow ready?” 

  
  


“I’d let it cook for a bit longer,” Grillby admitted, testing the meat a bit. “But I suppose it’s fine for the two.” He cut off two sizey slices with his swords, catching them before they touched the ground and handing them towards Aster.

  
  


Aster took the meat gratefully, taking a moment to uncork the bottles and pour the green liquid onto the meat, before passing one to Reaper, and then the other to Death. 

 

Like always, they didn't hesitate to eat meat given to them, scarfing it down with little problems. Only after they swallowed, and the taste settled in did they make disgusted faces, Reaper hissing at Aster and Death hiding his face in Sans chest. 

 

But…. nothing happened, they didn't change, didn't talk differently or even sound any different than demons. 

 

“Maybe…. it needs time to affect?” Aster asked a little hopelessly after waiting a few minutes. 

  
  


Gaster hummed thoughtfully, a bit frustrated and disappointed as he watched the unchanged demons. “...It should’ve worked,” he mused, circling around the demons a bit. “...Yes, perhaps it needs some time.” He hoped so at least. If not… they had to go through their whole research again to find their error. 

 

Sans held Death close, already ignoring the two elders as he busied himself making sure his mate was alright and feeling fine. Meanwhile Papyrus was running up to Reaper, trying to calm the hissing demon down a little with gentle pets to his side, telling him he was alright. Telling him they were only trying to help.

 

“IT’LL BE WORTH IT SOON ENOUGH!!!” The young skeleton promised, sounding convinced and like he was already looking forward to that.

  
  


Sans had to surround Death in a big hug, laying him on the floor over him to feel more safe around him. Reaper was much the same, hiding his face in Papyrus chest to surround his head in something safe. 

 

After a few hours with no results Aster and Gaster went back to the drawing board, leaving the rest to themselves. 

 

Hearth was looking up at a run down hut, where Reaper decided to steal Papyrus and lay around on the roof of the hut, using Papyrus as teddy bear. “Are you sure it’s safe up there? The town is really old, it could break.” But only got a hiss from Reaper.

  
  


“DON’T WORRY, HEARTH!!!” Papyrus quickly assured him. “I AM CERTAIN REAPER KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING!!!” Plus he had no plans from stopping the much needed cuddle time.

  
  


Meanwhile Death was rolling on the floor in front of Sans, stopping every few moments to see if Sans was still watching, before continuing to roll in front of him, back and forth.

  
  


Sans was watching the demon curiously, the grin on his face definitely amused, but also slightly confused. He could tell Death wanted Sans’ attention to this, so he was watching, but he wasn’t entirely sure what else to do and didn’t accidentally want to interrupt him in something important.

  
  


Death rolled right until he hit Sans’ legs, looking up at him on his back with his arms held over his head and legs bent, like a puppy would when showing his stomach. And that’s what Death was doing, showing his stomach, like he was offering it to Sans.

  
  


Death was definitely expecting something from Sans, Sans just couldn’t quite figure out what it was. He moved his hand carefully to Death’s chin, gently scratching the underside of it.

 

“y’ wan’ pets?” He asked a bit lost.

  
  


Death whined, squirming under Sans touch to move his head away from the hand. One of his paws went up and grabbed the offending hand, pushing it to his belly and resting it there. All the while glaring at Sans like he was a commanding general disappointed in his soldiers.

  
  


Sans eyes widened a bit when he finally realized. “ _ oh, _ ” he breathed out a bit unbelieving at first. But he went to his knees to reach Death better, using one hand to gently rub Death’s belly, or rather just the ribcage. His other hand was helping Sans keeping his weight up. He was watching Death’s face intently, nervous to accidentally go too far or do something wrong.

 

“...y’ like that?” He asked curiously.

  
  


Death purred louder than he ever had, one of his legs going in the air and moving up and down, while his tail was beating on the ground like a drum. Death soon turned to putty under Sans’ hand, his face expression going to one in pure bliss, tongue lolling out while hazy eye lights appeared and rolled to the back of his head, letting out little gurgling sounds.

  
  


Oh god.  _ Oh god. _ How could he have ever  _ not _ loved the guy? He was almost too damn cute to handle!

 

Sans was rubbing and petting the ribs more confidentially now, still careful to not hurt him, but not as hesitant and nervous anymore. Instead he was watching him, every twitch, every reaction, catching on every noise, with a big, excited grin on his face.

  
  


By now Death was at the mercy of Sans, completely limp on the ground with his arms and legs splayed out to let Sans access. Huffing and panting like a dog, until the moment Sans brushed along in between his bottom ribs, making his eye lights blow over and almost consuming his sockets, at that moment Death went still, a dopey smile blooming around his face. Death was gone, he flew away and now is floating in clouds.

  
  


Sans slowed his movements when Death suddenly went still, his eye lights so much  _ bigger _ than usually. He waited, keeping up the gentlest strokes until Sans deemed them satisfied, and he carefully got onto his arms and knees so he was over Death, resting his elbows on the ground and watching the blissful demon happily.

 

_ He’s _ done that! And Death had trusted  _ him _ to do that to him!

 

Sans almost started giggling as he thought about it, but he held himself back, not wanting his laughter to shake Death. Instead he leaned forward a bit, leaving some gentle kisses on the demon’s face.

  
  


After what seemed like hours, but must have been twenty minutes, Death blinked ever so slowly, letting his eye lights disappear before focusing on Sans. “thank… ya..” He was out of breath, looking up at Sans a little tired.

  
  


This time Sans  _ did _ giggle happily, but made sure to keep it light to not to shake Death underneath him. He gently resumed kissing him lightly, humming at the demon’s gratitude.

 

“no worries, precious,” he cooed, needing a few moments to realize the pet name that had slipped past him. “i- i mean-! shit, i-!” Sans was stammering, struggling. What  _ did _ he mean, though!? 

 

He could feel Grillby watching them surprised, curiously, having heard the exchange, and Sans just felt… well… embarrassed? Maybe. But that was not entirely it.

 

Grillby had been wondering about where the two’s relationship stood, not sure if they were just mates by physical means or… more. But the thing was… Sans didn’t know, either.

  
  


“ya... my precious… too.” Death cooed softly, not exactly knowing the meaning of the word, but knew it held endearment to it. His arms going around Sans body, fists grabbing the back of his shirt as he pulled him in to cuddle him, tail flicking in the air lazily.

  
  


Sans stared down at Death adoringly as he processed the words, but easily let himself be pulled in, doing his best to wrap his arms around Death, too. 

 

And Grillby watched them. Surprised, yet also not at all. But he felt oddly… sad. Like he had lost something he hadn’t realized he wanted before.


	19. hello?

Night fell quickly, everyone going to turn in for the night, Death and Sans slept in Death’s old bed once again, holding each other close like they belonged like that. Sans squashing Death to the wall with his body. Reaper dragged Papyrus near the fireplace, oddly getting very protective of Papyrus now. While Hearth and Grillby shared a bed, Reaper’s old bed, one sleeping at the feet and the other upright, both faced away from the other’s feet.

 

Aster and Gaster stayed holed up in the den, not bothering to leave since the failure of the potion. 

 

Everything stayed quiet at night, up until in the early hours of morning did screaming just occur.

  
  


Papyrus woke up, without hesitation screaming as well, before he even realized what was going on or why they were screaming. But it woke Grillby up successfully, raising in the bed with a startled gasp, struggling to adjust his eyes to see what was happening.

  
  


Hearth sat up the moment the screaming started, looking around without actually seeing anything. 

 

But the one who started to scream in the first place, looked at Papyrus with wide sockets as he backed away from him, panting and started to scream again when Papyrus screamed. Russ was looking everywhere, seeing his home yet not at the same time, it was too old, too broken and abandoned. 

 

He scrambled to his feet, moving to the corner of the room to get away from everyone. Aster bursting through the closed den door, making Russ scream again.

  
  


Gaster wasn’t too far behind Aster, his cloak looking wrinkled, showing he had not had the time to quite wake up yet, but he already had his staff in his palm, looking ready to take on any danger. “What is going on!?” He demanded, but there was no one that could actually give him an answer.

 

Sans was, by now, awake, but he wasn’t doing much but sitting up next to Death, eyes wide and startled and confused. Papyrus had managed to calm down enough to stop screaming and he was eying the monster scrambling away from him curiously and shocked.

 

“...REAPER???” He asked confused.

  
  


“NO NO, PLEASE DON’T REAP ME! I-I SWEAR ME AND MY BROTHER ARE NOT BAD! COMMMIIICCC!!!!” Russ cried out, looking around for his brother, who sat up slowly beside Sans.

 

“wha’s ‘appened bra’der, shhhh sleep.” Comic rubbed his sockets, still not opening them. Both Reaper and Death were gone, replaced by two boys that had no horns, no tail, no wings or claws. They looked like… just two dirty young skeletons.

 

Russ jumped from his spot, tackling Comic before he had a chance. Moving them to another corner of the room, holding Comic close as he eyed all the other monsters nervously. “WE DIDN’T MEAN TO COME BACK TO THE VILLAGE, WE SWEAR, PLEASE DON’T HURT US AGAIN!” His hand started to sparke with strong magic, his right eye glowing orange. 

 

By now Comic woke up enough to realize what’s happening. “no, no, not ‘gain!”

  
  


Sans was too startled to properly react or process what was going on. He just scooted to the corner of the bed, avoiding Russ tackling the skeleton beside Sans.

 

Grillby wasn’t left in a much better place, eyes wide and shocked as he watched the two so familiar yet unfamiliar skeletons scared and startled.

 

Papyrus was, by far, the quickest to catch on. “NO!!! NO, THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEAN!!!” He tried to assure them quickly. “WE DON’T WANT TO HURT YOU!”

  
  


Aster held his hand out to his boys, already had his mouth open to speak, but Russ ran out the door with Comic in his arms before he uttered a single word. When he realized what happened he screamed out. “After them!” 

 

Hearth didn’t need to be told twice, already running after the skeletons beside Aster. Almost bumping into him while they reached the exist.

  
  


Grillby and Papyrus were quick to follow, only Sans and Gaster hanging behind a bit. There was a moment, a very confusing moment, where Sans wanted to ask Gaster what the  _ hell _ was going on. Where was his mate? Where was Reaper? Who were those people?

 

But even  _ while _ he wanted to ask it, Sans knew the answer in the back of his mind and… eventually decided catching up with the others was more important than asking questions right now.

 

Gaster seemed to be on the same page as him, because he already picked his son off the bed, rushing them both after the others with an inhumane speed, definitely some sort of magic trick, but Sans couldn’t see what was going on with Gaster’s feet underneath the cloak and robe.

 

But they were catching up, and that was all that really mattered.

  
  


Russ was heading straight for the forest, jumping in with no regard to himself, but made sure Comic stayed behind him to not get hit with any branches.

 

Once he thought he was far away enough, he stopped. They wouldn’t go into the forest, they already left town. They should leave us alone now, right? He knew they hated them now but… they wouldn’t actually kill them right?

 

He hoped not.

 

He set Comic down on the floor, looking him over. “ARE YOU OKAY?” Comic didn’t even have a chance to respond as Aster and Hearth jumped out where they came from and tackled Comic and Russ to the ground. 

 

“O-oh dear, I’m so sorry boys!” Aster struggled to say, already getting off Comic, but still keeping a good hold on him so he wouldn’t get away, Hearth doing the same. 

 

Hearth held Russ close as they battled in strength, “We are not gonna hurt you, no one will!”

  
  


Gaster had actually managed to outrun Grillby and Papyrus by a bit, arriving quickly after Hearth and Aster with Sans in his arms. But Papyrus and Grillby weren’t too far behind, quickly coming to a halt as he saw the others having stopped running.

 

“ARE YOU OKAY???” Papyrus asked hurriedly, not wasting a moment before he pushed through the monsters to Reaper and Death - or rather Russ and Comic now. “THEY DIDN’T HURT YOU, DID THEY??? I ASSURE YOU, WE MEAN NO HARM AT ALL!!!”

 

Sans was less enthusiastic about approaching them, his eyes wide as Gaster put him down and he watched. Why had they been running? Why had they been so scared? They  _ knew  _ them. They’ve  _ finally _ come to trust them,  _ finally _ come to like them and now… did they just…  _ forget _ everything?   
  
Did Comic even still remember they were  _ mated? _

  
  


“we ‘re out da village, why ‘re ya still af’der us!” Comic struggled to get out of Aster’s hold, but failing miserably. 

 

Russ gave up under Hearth’s hold, looking up at him with wide sockets. “WE ARE NOT WITCHES OR EVIL BEINGS! PLEASE, WE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!”

 

Aster looked at his boys with pain in his sockets. “My boys…. my beautiful sons… You could never do wrong..” Comic flinched when he heard ‘son’, looking up at Aster with confused sockets, Russ doing the same.

 

“wha’ happenin’?” Comic whispered.

  
  


“...You do not recall anything from after you got chased out, do you?” Gaster asked a bit warily, but he didn’t actually wait for an answer. “A… lot has happened since. The villagers that drove you out are… well. They’re gone now, for lack of better terms.”

 

Grillby and Sans both felt uncomfortable when Gaster brought that up, neither of them having considered how… they would ever tell them like this. That they’ve murdered their entire village? Maybe it… was even better without them knowing.

 

“We don’t want to hurt you,” Grillby finally added, though. “We’re trying to help. Please don’t run away.”

  
  


“GONE? WHAT DO YOU MEAN GONE?! ARE THEY OKAY!!?!” Russ asked,ignoring their words after being told of the people he once knew, sitting up to look at Gaster. He started to look at everyone here, his confusing growing tenfold. “WHO ARE ALL YOU MONSTERS??!?!” He yelled in frustration. 

 

Comic was curled up in Aster’s side, feeling uncomfortable and scared to move, this bigger monster calling him his son and pressing him to his body. All Comic could do was curl up in a attempt to protect himself.

  
  


Gaster couldn’t answer, couldn’t tell whether he should or not. They were Aster’s boys, so he should be the one to decide how much to tell them and how much to spare them, though it be tough keeping something like the destruction of their entire home village from them.

 

But he still looked down at Aster for this one, at least the first part of Reaper’s question. It was Papyrus who responded to the latter.

 

“WE’RE FRIENDS!!! OR… WELL, WE COULD BE!” He said, sounding much more chipper and enthusiastic about all of this than most of them. “IF YOU WANT US!”

  
  


Aster looked away uncomfortable, “Our village was attacked by angry monsters that were hurt. Monsters that lashed out, didn’t mean to hurt, but in result. You both were turned to demons, wondering around until these nice people found you, then me, I was searching for you two for so long. I am your father.” There. He avoided telling them that it was  _ them  _ who killed everyone, but still enough to know close enough to the truth.

 

Russ gasped, wanting to stand up but Hearth held him down. “THEY’RE GONE! THEY WERE ALL KILLED?! BUT THAT CAN’T BE, WE WERE SUCH A NICE TOWN, WE COULD OF HELP THEM! WHY DID THEY HAVE TO KILL EVERYONE WE LOVED!?” Comic sighed next to Aster, hiding his face. Aster rubbed his back gently, not sure how to console him anymore, these are his boys, his real boys. But not the cute little demons he grown to know, they were different now.

 

“I know the feeling… having your whole family and town killed. How hopeless you feel, all the what if’s and ‘I could have done something’...” Hearth spoke up, his voice raw with pure emotion. “Having to accept it is hard, having to move forward is so much harder.”

 

Comic and Russ look up at him with big sockets, understanding and relief written on their faces. “‘m sorry ‘bout yer town…” Comic said gently. 

 

“Thank you, my brother and I have gone a long way…” Hearth looked up at Grillby, and thus, so did Comic and Russ.

  
  


Grillby nodded as they all suddenly seemed to look at him, easily agreeing with his brother’s words. 

 

“It’s… easier if you don’t have to be alone, though…,” he continued onto them. “We weren’t and… you don’t have to be, either.” He didn’t want to push himself, push all of them onto Russ and Comic. They couldn’t remember any of them aside from waking up surrounded by them and them chasing the two.

 

But… he also didn’t know what they would do if Russ and Comic just  _ left. _ They’ve wanted to help them, eventually deciding to try to turn them back, but… now what? They can easily live on their own now so long they brought them to a village to stay at, would be accepted, could settle. They didn’t  _ need _ any of them anymore.

 

Which… was how it  _ should _ be, but… it was still a scary thought.

  
  


“i don’ wanna be ‘lone ‘gain.” Comic whispered, remembering when the villagers turned their backs, not offering food anymore like they used to. Having to be on their own, Comic having to hastily make plant life  _ with  _ fruits, only coming out half baked. His brother and him had to eat half good food for weeks until they were drove out, Comic leaving his staff at home from being suddenly pushed out, never having time to get it back.

 

Russ looked back at Comic, curled up and scared. He was the big brother, he needs to own up to it. “YES, WE WOULD LIKE YOUR HELP, AND FRIENDSHIP!” He looked at Papyrus with a uneasy smile. “WE JUST DON’T WANT TO BE THROWN OUT AGAIN.”

 

“You will never be neglected or thrown out ever again. You are my children and I’m here to protect you for as long as I live.” Aster said strongly, making Comic look up at him with wonder.

  
  


Grillby sighed in relief hearing the words. “I’m very glad to hear that,” he said, Gaster nodding as well while Papyrus was already excitedly hopping from one leg to another.

  
“I’M PAPYRUS!!!” He exclaimed happily before gesturing towards Sans and Gaster. “THOSE ARE MY FATHER, GASTER, SORCERER OF THE SOUTH, AND MY BROTHER SANS!!!”

  
  


Comic stared at Sans and waved awkwardly, his hand barely coming up and slightly wave at him with a nervous smile. 

 

_ wow. dis skele’on makes me feel weird, like ger’d weird, bu’ wow. snas was i’? snas ler’ked pre’dy ger’d ler’kin’ ta, ‘ow can a ger’d ler’king skele’on like em exis’? please don’ no’ice me, ’m a mess. _

 

Comic quickly hid his face in Aster’s side, not wanting the new skeleton to see his face getting bluer the longer he stared at him. 

 

“NICE TO MEET YOU PAPYRUS, SANS AND GASTER!” Russ chirped, still shaking slightly but otherwise, looked hopeful.

  
  


“It’s nice to meet you, too,” Gaster said with a gentle smile. Sans stayed quiet during the introduction, the same way he had during most of this, but… he didn’t miss the small, nervous wave Comic had given him, looking away again before Sans could even wave back. Welp.

  
  


Hearth placed his hand on his chest, a soft smile on his face. “I’m Hearth, this is my brother Grillby.” He gestured to Grillby.

  
  


Grillby nodded at the introduction, also giving them a gentle smile. “We’re priests. Or… at least we were.” Would they still count as priests despite not having a church, not having their robes, the only thing left on Grillby that reminded him of his role being the small cross necklace around his neck?

  
  


“And I am Aster, your father.” Aster finished, squeezing Comic tight.

  
  


“Well, this has been a rather exhilarating morning I’d say,” Gaster eventually said, finally finding the time to cast a spell to straighten his cloak a little, looking more presentable. “We should get back to the carriage and eat something.”

  
  


Aster pulled Comic up, holding his hand while he reached for Russ’ hand with the other, who gently parted from Hearth and went beside Aster, holding his hand. “Come on boys, you must be hungry.”

 

Comic and Russ let themselves be dragged back to the village, Russ asking him why they never seen him till now, Aster began to explain he was on a top secret mission that was too dangerous to bring two small babies. Comic on the other hand looked back at Sans, turning back forward and pressing to Aster’s side when Sans would so much as glance at him.

  
  


Sans narrowed his eyes a little as he hung back from the rest of the group, not missing the way Comic kept glancing at him at all. Was he trying to send some sort of signal or…? Why would he keep looking?

 

Did he… remember they’re mated?

 

As if speaking of the devil Gaster slowly fell back in step until he was next to Sans, having noticed his son watching Comic a little curiously.

 

“...You know, demon customs are different than… theirs. Ours,” he spoke to his son quietly, gesturing to the rest of the group. 

 

“ _ we’re _ not like  _ them _ , though,” Sans reminded, his tone wary.

 

Gaster sighed, but nodded. “You’re right. We’re ambiguous. Monsters, but with a connection to the demon culture,” he agreed with his son, before going on. “But  _ they’re _ not.”

  
Sans huffed a little. “what’re y’ tryin’ to tell me?”   
  


“That Comic isn’t a demon anymore. He’s not… your  _ mate, _ Sans.” The words were hesitant and soft, Gaster not wanting to hurt his son, but having to remind him either way.

 

Sans felt something hot coiling inside him, something strong and possessive, something he might not like entirely, but eventually took control. “i  _ marked  _ ‘im! ‘e’s  _ mine _ !” Sans hissed at Gaster, feeling attacked at the accusation Death wouldn’t  _ be _ anymore.

 

But Gaster just shook his head slowly. He didn’t flinch, wasn’t really entirely surprised by the reaction. “He’s a  _ person, _ Sans. A monster. A monster that doesn’t understand or live by demon culture, who doesn’t  _ remember _ his past life as a demon.”

 

“but-!”

 

“You’re more than just your demonic instincts, Sans,” Gaster urged a little. “I know it’s… hard to go against them sometimes. But Comic isn’t the demon you marked anymore. Is it really fair to force him as your mate in this state?”

 

It was a rhetorical question and Sans knew that. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. But it  _ hurt _ and Death was  _ his. _ He was marked, smelled like him, he had  _ trusted _ him before all this.

 

But he sighed, glancing to the ground without answering. He felt his father’s hand on his shoulder, gentle and comforting.

 

“I’m sorry, my son,” he spoke quietly. “But anything else would not be right.”


	20. why would you just bite me!?!?!

Comic looked back at Sans, worried something had happened. Sans was looking down, looking _so_ upset, with his father having a hand on him, acting as support. But Comic had no idea why Sans was upset, and wanting so bad help him in anyway, but his brother’s gasp made him turn around to see what was left of their village. Comic choked on a gasp, freezing in place as he saw the half eaten skeletons on the ground. Aster tensed beside them, letting go of their hand to wrap them around his sons instead, holding them close and shoving their faces in his robes. “We have to clean this up.”

 

“NO, WHY ARE THEY ON THE GROUND, WHY HAVEN’T THEY BEEN GIVEN A PROPER BURIAL!!” Russ shoved away from Aster, already slowly walking to the ruined village, tears streaming down his face. “OH MY…. NO….”

 

Comic stayed hidden in Aster’s robes, not wanting to see this site at all.

 

Hearth walked over to Russ, a hand resting on his shoulder. “I know this is hard to see, just remember they are not hurting anymore.”

  


Papyrus quickly came running to Russ as well, gently petting his arm in comfort. Grillby and Gaster, Sans still by his side, ended up deciding to stay back, watching them sadly.

 

“...We can still give them a burial,” Grillby decided, glancing up at Gaster in question, the great sorcerer giving him a confirming nod. They didn’t have anywhere specific to be after Gaster had sent the servant back to the southern kingdom, with a message to the royal couple informing them about Gaster’s ongoing absence.

  


Russ nodded slowly, walking up the village like it was going to lash out and hurt him.

 

Comic couldn’t be of the presence of the dead villagers for that long, retreating into his old cabin soon after. Aster decided to help Russ out, since he was the one who will need a lot of emotional support being around his dead friends. Hearth decided to help them, to make less work for Russ.

 

Aster asked Grillby and Papyrus to start making holes in the ground for the dead.

  


Grillby and Papyrus agreed easily. There were shovels in some of the abandones huts and houses for them to dig with, but there were a lot of villagers, it’d be a slow process. So Gaster decided to help them, pounding his staff to the ground until the earth shook slightly. He used the end of his staff to draw the shape of the hole into the ground, reciting words in a language Gaster could not even tell you himself what it was called, long extinct and forgotten.

 

Only when the lines in the dirt began to slowly carve in deeper did Gaster step away, watching and slightly leading as the dirt collected into a pile, levitating out of the hole and next to it.

 

Sans watched them for a few moments, watched as his father repeated the process for the next hole, but… He felt like there wasn’t a lot he could help with. So after a little bit he decided they had it all under control, heading back inside the hut they’d been staying at for the last few days.

  


Comic was standing in front of a wall, a big painting on the wall with him, his brother, and all the villagers, a hand resting on top of the dried paint. Comic gasped and shied away when Sans came in, walking fast to the den. “‘m sorry, ‘ll go over here!”

  


Sans blinked surprised when Comic seemed to almost be running from him. _Again?_ He hadn’t noticed Comic had already gone in here, hadn’t been expecting him, but… even less had he expected him to be speed walking away so fast.

 

He followed slowly, dropping his staff into a corner unceremoniously before peeking into the den. “hey, ‘s, uh. ‘s ok,” he said a bit hesitantly, unsure. “‘m not gonna hurt y’ or anything.”

  


“d-da ya wa-wan’ me ta ger out? i can l-leave ya ‘lone if ‘m bod’erin’ ya.” Comic asked, turning his face away so he couldn’t see his quickly glowing face. “i w-was just ler’kin’ f-fer my staf-ff.” His voice shook under Sans stare, heat going all over his body as those gorgeous eye lights stared at him.

  


Sans let himself in, eying Comic curiously. Was he okay? He seemed sort of… well, something. Did the potion make him sick?  
  
“...i, uh. i can help ya search,” he decided to offer a bit awkwardly. “if y’ wan’.”

  


“o-oh! t-t’ank ya soo much! i-i’s like a wo-wo- wooden staff dat is like, uh, almo-os’ my size. i’ li-like i’s been twis’ed, i’s rea-really cool! i’s has dis pre’dy like gems at the top, with a really p-pre’dy one a da very top, i’s so pre’dy, l-like yer eyes! wai’ ner!”

Comic panicked when he thought he insulted Sans to his face. ”i d-d-didn’ mean y-yer eyes! i mean ya hav’ pre’dy eyes! and face! but uh! ner ner i mean’… uuuggggghhhh.” Comic first just wanted to explain how his staff looked like, but it ended up badly, first he called Sans pretty, but took it back, but what if Sans took offense to that! He couldn’t leave Sans thinking he looked _not_ pretty!

 

Comic groaned as he hid his face in his hands. “i’s okay, ‘ll f-f-find i’ myself! please ex-excuse me!” Comic ran out, dodging Sans to move out the den, his hands not able to hide his blueberry face.

  


“ _wait!_ ” Sans called as he watched after Comic, his own face almost as blue. What the hell had just _happened?_ Did he… actually call his eyes pretty? ...Had he just _entirely_ missed the large crack ruining his face, or did he really…?  
  
Sans decided to hurry out of the den and after him. “wait, dea- _comic!_ don’ run!”

  


“‘m sorry ‘m sorry!” comic cried out, crawling under his bed to hide from Sans. When Comic opened his eyes again he saw his staff laying under his bed. “oh…”

  


Sans knelt down to look under the bed, about to say something about it being okay or asking what he meant when he said his face was _pretty._ But then his eyes caught onto the staff and he hesitated.

 

“o-oh, y’r staff…,” he muttered out. “i, uh… guess y’ don’ need my help an’more then. uh… s-sorry…?”  
  
He scooched away from the bed again, suddenly feeling awkward to invade Comic’s space like that. Maybe he… didn’t even want him close. Maybe that’s why he ran away, and the rest was just… accidents? He _did_ seem a little confused.

  


Comic slowly crawled out the bed, sitting awkwardly with his staff close to his chest, facing Sans. He slowly lifted his head to look at him, giving him a nervous smile and a quick wave. “hi….” Dear lord he was so awkward, save him please.

  


Sans glanced up and at the other monster, needing a small moment, before he raised a hand to wave back. “uh… hey.” He pulled his hand back, fingers fidgeting a little as he tried to figure out what to make out of this situation. “are, uh… are you… ok?” He eventually asked a bit hesitantly.

  


Comic shrinked in on himself. “n-ner, ‘m fine! nev’a be’der! i, uh, why da ya ask…?” He asked hesitantly, his head facing the ground but his eye lights looking at Sans a little timidly, his hold on his staff tightening. “did i der somethin’ wrong ‘gain?”

  


“no, ‘s just…” Sans came a little closer, barely stopping himself from reaching out for him, eventually just ending up with his arms hugging himself. “i ‘dunno, guess y’ jus’ seem a little… nervous? but, uh… i mean, y’re probably goin’ through a lot, so ‘s… understandable… um…” Why would he have even asked then, dammit, he knew what happened to Death right before he turned demon, and he knew seeing the town dead came as a shock to him. Of course he wouldn’t be just ‘okay.’

  


Comic looked down, looking at his staff. “yeah, i wan’ed ta use my staff ta fill da village wit’ life. as a gif’ ta all da ones i loved.” He looked at the painting with the many smiling faces. “my family.” He almost forgot he was talking to a really cute skeleton that he could barely manage to talk to, his emotions of the loss of his family overpowering his nervousness.

 

“t’ank ya… fer ‘elpin’ me…” He looked up at Sans, gesturing at his staff, a small soft smile on his face as his blush returned, this time not as extreme, enough so Comic wouldn’t notice the rise in temperature in his cheeks.

  


“‘s, uh… ‘s nothin’,” Sans assured him, his eyes a little wider than usually, face tinted blue. He… might not be Death anymore, but… he couldn’t ignore how cute the monster _still_ was, demon or not. Sans glanced away a little awkwardly, coughing into his fist. “...barely ‘elped anyways…”

  


“ner, ner!” Comic quickly said, almost reaching out to touch Sans, but stopped before he could. “i wouldn’ve ‘ave found i’ wit’out ya! t’ank ya, t’ank ya! i am gra’eful!” He bowed down to show his gratitude, wanting Sans to know what he did was appreatitated. Not noticing how his old dirty shirt slipped from his shoulder with his slim figure and the fabric being stretched out through the years of use.

  


Sans snorted a bit surprised, chuckling. “a’right, alright, y’re welcome,” he said, before gently putting a hand on Comic’s shoulder, leading him to stand upright again. “y’ don’ gotta bow for me, makes me feel like pops.” He was still chuckling, though, only taking his hands back slowly, crossing his arms a little close to himself.

  


Comic flinched when Sans’ hand brushed against his shoulder, feeling something odd. He turned his head to look at his shoulder as best as he could, only to gasp when he saw the mark. “somet’in’ bit me! er ner , i ‘ope ‘s nah poisonous! i ‘ave ta ask my bra’de- ner wai’, _ya_! do ya kner wha bit me!?” Comic was holding his shoulder while looking up at Sans, worry flowing off him in waves.

  


Sans startled back a step rapidly, eyes wide and face blue. Fuck. Fuck! What was he supposed to _say!?_ The mark didn’t tie Comic to Sans anymore, he _knew_ that. Should he just… lie? Say he didn’t know, or make something up?

 

...No. No. That was _still_ his mark, and even if Comic wasn’t Death anymore, _Death_ was still Sans’ mate and Sans refused to just… ignore that.

 

“i… i did…,” he finally replied, but his voice still was quiet and hesitant.

  


“wha…?” Comic backed away, looking betrayed and starting to shake. “why would ya da dat?”

  


Sans’ face started feeling even hotter, arm awkwardly going to scratch the back of his skull as he looked anywhere but at Comic. “y-you… were a demon. we, uh… i mean me an’ the demon, we… m-mated…?” He let the last part sound like a question, voice high and quiet, despite his certainty that, yes, they pretty sure mated. “...the bite’s my mark…”

  


Comic looked so confused, one of his hands feeling up the mark on his shoulder, while the other lowered his staff. “wha… does dat... ‘m yers er somethin’? wha does matin’ mean?” the bottom of his staff was placed firmly on the ground, now being used as a support for Comic more than a magical tool.

  


“i- i mean… y’ were…?” Sans offered nervously. “y’ were mine an’ i was… yours… but, uh. ‘m obviously not ‘xpecting that f-from you anymore…” Not that he didn’t want to. Not that he didn’t _want_ to still have him, whether he was Death or Comic now, whether he remembered him or not. Somewhere he was still his mate, but…

 

Sans couldn’t force that onto Comic. He knew he couldn’t.

  


“oh…. ser we were like… a couple?” Comic asked, his face going blue as he looked to the ground, both hands on his staff now, like he was hugging it for comfort. “‘nd now we’re nah… cuz ‘m ‘ere…” Disappointment peeked through.

 

Why did the idea of being a mate entice him? The feeling of wanting to be Sans’, to be owned by him. And this huge feeling of loss, what he could of had. He ruined something for this person, and the demon he once was. He felt like a third person coming and ruining someone’s date, the third wheel.

 

Tears started to form in his sockets. “‘m ser’ry i…. ruined yer rela’ionship… cuz ‘m ‘ere..” his voice was seconds of breaking, looking away before he started to make a bigger nuisance to this monster.

  


Sans saw the tears in Comic’s sockets, quickly, quietly cursing under his breath. “no! no, ‘s not like that!” He said, trying to reach for him, but hesitating, not knowing if Comic would even want to be held. “‘s good y’re here, it’s… ‘s for the better!”

 

“bu’… bu’… i ruined yer rela’ionship! ‘ow could ya say dat like it doesn’ ma’der?” Comic asked, curling around his staff to take up as little space as possible. “‘m so ser’ry i ruined i’!”

  


“no, no, _no,_ ” Sans said a bit rushed, gently moving to uncurl Comic from around the staff, moving his face so he was looking at him. “no, _listen._ people _hate_ demons. stayin’ one would’ve made y’r life so much… _harder._ i couldn’ even _ask_ that from y’ just ‘cause i lo- c’se ‘m mated to ya, it’s… ‘t’d be cruel…”

  


“bu’ i ‘ave da mark! am i nah yer mate? ‘re ya stuck wit’ me now dat i ‘ave i’? wit’ someone like _me_?” He said the last word like he disgusted himself. And why wouldn’t he, he ruined everything, not only had his family hate him, but ruin this cute monster’s relationship, stole his mate away and replaced it with someone like him. Not even close to what he was before, he couldn’t even look inside himself to tell him anything about the demon. Because he had no idea, one minute he was hungry in the forest, the next he is awake around so many people with a life.

 

He was truly disgusting, now he forced this monster to be mated to him when he mated with someone else.

  


Sans almost frowned at Comic when he listened to him talk about himself like he was something _bad._ Why? Why _would_ he be? Sans barely _knew_ Comic and could already tell how sweet he was, how good, how cute.

  
“even _if_ ‘m stuck with y’, ‘s ok!” Sans almost yelled, overwhelmed by the situation. Wasn’t he happy at _all_ to be back? To not be demon anymore? “death’s not better than ya and y’ _didn’t_ take ‘im away from me. _you’re_ him, an’ i- i-...” He didn’t know what he was supposed to say. To tell him. How to console the other monster. But he didn’t _want_ to see him this way.

  


Comic rubbed his sockets to get rid of the tears, not wanting to look even more pathetic than he already is. But he couldn’t help but flinch hard when Sans said that he was stuck with him. “if ‘m em, den am i nah yer mate?” If he wasn’t worse or better than ‘Death’, then does it matter if he is a normal monster again? But why is he not Sans’ mate anymore if he is like this?

  


“i-i… well…” He _was._ He _was_ Sans’ mate, had the mark to prove it, and Sans couldn’t help but to run his fingers over it gently, his other hand going around Comic’s waist instinctively, holding him lightly, but close.

 

He _was_ his mate, was _Sans’_ and Sans was his. But Comic never… Comic wasn’t the person that offered himself to Sans, that _wanted_ Sans to mate him. Comic was just… thrown into this…

 

“...i _want_ you…” Came out, despite everything else Sans’ has just thought through. “i _want_ what’s mine, b-but… but… y’re a free person, comic… y’ never… agreed to this…”

  


Comic shivered when Sans called him _his,_ wanted him. A chill running through him when he heard Sans wants was _his_ , belongs to him. His arms went around Sans and held him close, his chin resting on Sans’ shoulder. “‘nd if i agree ta dis? will dat be okay? if i wan’ ta, ya will ‘ave me? even if ‘m nah a demon ner more?”

 

His head tilted to rest on Sans head, never wanting to let go. This felt right, this felt so normal, like it was meant to be. A part of him wanted to climb on top of Sans and let himself be held, but that was rude, he wouldn’t do that to Sans. He also had this odd feeling with his tongue, like it wanted to come out, make contact, but how weird and awkward is that?! Wow he was messed up.

  


Sans blinked surprised, pulling away the smallest bit, just enough to look at him. “y’ barely _know_ me…” Sans breathed out, eyes wide. “why would y’ jus’... wanna be my mate like that…”

 

He wasn’t even _demon_. No heat to cloud his mind, no demon instincts to drive him to Sans, so why… why would he want that?

  


“i-i-i don-don’ kner! ya nice, ya ler’k really p-pre’dy and cool. i jus’ really like ya fer some reason ‘nd i -d-don’ kner why? i t’ou-t’ought dat i had ‘death’s’ feelin’ fer ya er somet’in’? i’ just feels righ’!” Comic hid his face in Sans chest so he wouldn’t look at him, feeling nervous under Sans gaze. “‘m ser’ry, ‘s dat weird? should i ger?”

 

Would Sans even want to be near him now that he thinks Comic is a thirsty whore or something? that he would jump into his arms with no delay? Would he want someone like that? Comic just had a strong sense that he was supposed to be with Sans.

  


“no! no, stay,” Sans quickly said, holding Comic closer as if to keep him from leaving. “i… yea, i’ll have y’. as my mate. y’re… you’re my _mate._ ” His hand ran over the back of Comic’s skull, his face close to the side of it.

 

He _wanted_ him.

 

And… maybe he was right. Did Comic _really_ still feel the connection Death had to Sans? Was it still _there?_ The connection?  
  
Sans hoped so.

  


“heh…” Comic laughed softly, “heh, heh..” It slowly became more giggly, smile wide and dopey, he hugged Sans tight as he started to laugh like a kid getting a really well made doll. “hehehe… ‘m yer mate… dat sounds so… nice…”

 

He composed himself enough to lift his head up, his smile still wide and nervous. “wha da i do? as yer mate?”

  


“uh… not sure,” Sans admitted a bit sheepishly. “‘t all always came kinda instinctual, i jus’... i didn’ wan’ to be too far ‘way from you, made me… anxious. like i was missin’ somethin. somethin’ i had to _protect._ ”

 

He squeezed him a little at the last word, making sure Comic was still firm and comfortable in his hold.

 

“‘e’d catch me food, but… uh. y’ don’ gotta do that, don’t worry.” He laughed lightly, leaning his forehead to Comic’s, their faces close. “we were both still learnin’ ‘bout the whole mate thing, at least… i was… we’ll just… keep learnin’ now, too, yea?”

  


Comic nodded, leaning into Sans until they touched. “instinc’ual ya said? did i...? my tongue feels weird, ‘nd…. i-i feel like i should…. climb... on ya? did i der dat as a demon? lick ya… ‘nd…. climb on… ya?” His face was getting more blue the more he went on, ending up slapping his hands to his face to cover it and his embarrassment.

  


Sans chuckled quietly, taking Comic’s wrists in his hand and gently pulling the hands away from his flushed face. He leaned in a bit more, quickly lapping with his tongue once over Comic’s mouth, before grinning at him cheekily.

 

“he did,” he chirped out innocently.

  


Comic’s legs shook before giving out on him, making him suddenly fall and sit on his pelvis with a very blue face frozen in place. He looked down and squealed, quiet but long, his breath was heavy while he tried to calm himself down, giggling softly once it finally registered what has happened.

  


Sans followed Comic down onto the ground with a small gasp, but was laughing lightly. “shit, sorry,” he chuckled out, quickly scooting close enough to put a hand on Comic’s back and pull him to him. “sorry! sorry. didn’ mean t’ startle ya.”

  


“aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” Comic almost cried out, leaning in to hide his face in Sans chest. “my first kiss!!! i wasn’ ready!!”

  


Sans’ face flushed a little and he suddenly felt warmer. Dammit, why did this person have this power over him? It wasn’t even a _real_ kiss!

 

“ _sorry,_ ” he said again, though, his chest still slightly shaking with laughter. “didn’ mean t’ take that from ya. t-technically, though… we… we kissed before. with, uh. with death ‘n all…”

  


“aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-” Comic went on longer this time, almost turning to a puddle in Sans arms. They kissed! Of course they kissed! They were mates before!

 

Comic had to calm himself down before he could look back up at Sans. Taking at least twenty minutes before he controlled himself again. He looked at Sans determined, like he was ready to face off a big beast. “i c-can be as good as em!” He moved closer, their faces inches apart, almost letting his teeth touch the others. But he hesitated before they could touch, his sockets were screwed shut while his fingers dug into Sans shoulder as he tried to keep him close.

 

In the end Comic gasped and slumped, hiding his face once again in Sans’ chest, “i can’ do it!” He almost whined, sounding so disappointed in himself.


	21. i want to smooch yer pretty face!

“hey, hey,” Sans said softly, a palm gently stroking over the back of Comic’s skull, before he moved him a little to look up at Sans. “‘s ok. y’ don’t gotta prove yourself,” he said, leaving a tiny peck on Comic’s forehead. He looked at him again, eyes locking onto Comic’s. 

 

“do you… wan’ me to kiss you?” His voice was a bit lower than before, quiet but certain.

  
  


Comic nodded timidly, moving to sit up straight so Sans had access to his face. “yea… sorry… can ya please do?”

  
  


Sans nodded a little, giving Comic a small smile. He was nervous himself, feeling warm and excited and giddy, his soul feeling like it was about to do a somersault. But he still managed to lean in, eyes half lid, one hand on the back of Comic’s neck, the other on the middle of his back. 

  
  


Before Sans could touch his teeth, Comic watching Sans get closer and closer, making him even more nervous. He looked down before they met, his hands covering his face as he made an almost silent dying sound.

  
  


Sans stopped himself when he felt Comic moving, watching him sympathetically, the hand on Comic’s back stroking lightly. “‘s ok,” he said, before Comic even  _ could _ try to apologize. “we don’ gotta. take y’re time, precious.”

 

He still held Comic close, though, not ready to let go of him.

  
  


Comic screeched into his hands when Sans called him ‘precious’, but that only making him more determined to kiss Sans. “no! i wanna do it!” He lifted his head up and into position again, this time closing his eyes, his head angled in a way like he was offering his mouth to him. “please!”

 

He wasn’t going to look, if he doesn’t know when it’s coming then he won’t dodge from it! But knowing it’s coming is still making him go crazy, but he had to do this, he had to!

  
  


Sans chuckled lightly, but obliged. He  _ wanted _ to kiss Comic, and Comic didn’t look like he  _ wouldn’t _ want it either, just seemed… nervous? So why shouldn’t he kiss him?

 

He leaned in again, making small, exaggerated kissing noises the moments before he reached him, before  _ actually _ kissing Comic. Their mouths touched and Sans’ hold on him tightened the smallest bit. He parted his teeth, letting his tongue slip out in a silent request for entrance.

  
  


Comic tensed in Sans hold, his sockets blowing open when he felt the other finally kiss him. Opening his mouth on instinct, not having thought about it anymore than just allow. Allow Sans to claim his mouth. Allow him to hold him tight. Allow him to kiss him.

 

Comic let his sockets flutter shut, experimenting with this new experience. Poking and prodding at Sans tongue with his own, even humming softly once he got into it. He didn’t know what he was doing, not at all, but he let his instincts tell him. That’s what Sans said right? The mating thing was all about instincts. 

 

So that what he is gonna do, kiss this sexy looking skeleton with all he had, holding him as close as possible.

  
  


Finally. Sans felt like this was long overdue, being able to kiss him all alone, with no one around to watch or interrupt them. He let his hands run over the small skeleton, feeling the spine underneath his fingers through the thin shirt. His tongue was all over Comic’s, but gentle and slow, wanting to savor the feeling of it. The taste of it. Wanting their tastes to mix until you couldn’t tell them apart anymore.

  
  


Comic tired to follow Sans example, his tongue spinning around Sans’ and rubbing against his as much as possible, moaning into the kiss. He went to explore his mouth, running his tongue all over the others teeth and every other spot. In all honesty, he was pretty clumsy at it, not the best kisser out there. But hey, it was his first real kiss, of course he wouldn't have the best idea what the hell he was doing, but at least it held passion and love. Now that made it worthwhile.

  
  


Besides, Sans probably wasn’t much better off. The only other time he had kissed like this was literally the day before with Death. But being inexperienced also meant he had no experience how a ‘better’ kiss would be, so… He didn’t care. 

 

This was  _ their _ kiss. Clumsy and inexperienced, but it was  _ theirs _ and it was passionate and loving and it was  _ perfect. _

 

Sans’ moan was barely loud enough to be able to hear it, but he angled his hold on Comic until he could slowly move him down to lie on the ground, Sans on top of him, still kissing.

  
  


Comic happily obliged, his hold on Sans not loosening one bit, maybe even tightening when Sans was on top of him. Suddenly having a big urge to open his legs and wrap them around Sans, but that was what he was told to do, follow his instincts, so that’s what he did.

  
  


Sans groaned quietly when he felt Comic opening his legs for him, instinctively grinding into the other the smallest bit.

  
  


Comic’s breath hitched when Sans just started grinding on his pelvis, sending waves of unknown pleasure up his body, making him squeak and whine under him. His legs going weak, no longer able to hold around Sans waist, so he let them drop and planted his feet on the ground, but his legs were still spread for Sans, shivering at every move he made.

  
  


Sans pulled off the kiss for a moment, panting heavily. His face was bright blue, eyes half-lid as he watched Comic and every reaction while grinding into him. Fuck. How could one monster be this cute?   
  
He hummed, already feeling a small bulge forming in his pants, and he was just about to lean into another kiss again, when he could hear the door to the hut opening.

 

Sans gasped surprised, stopping everything he was doing to pull Comic into his arms, holding him close and protectively.

 

“Sans!?” Gaster asked, Sans finally looking sheepishly up to his father.

  
  


Great. Not only was he already a mess with being dirty, and having awful ruined clothes. But now he was a hot mess panting under Sans, in his arms, his body feeling hot, and a shiver going down his spine when he felt a bulge in Sans pants.

 

But Sans’ father just reminded him he was in his old village, that they were killed in. He just disrespected all of his loved one! He was supposed to be mourning, helping them give their respects to them. But here he was getting touchy feely with his new mate! How insensitive could he be?!

 

He really didn’t want to disrespect them like that at all! It’s just all his problems and worries slipped away once Sans came front and center, demanding all his attention and stealing his breath away. Comic looked down, at their pelvises that were pressing together, a blue glow faintly coming from Sans pants. If only he could stop panting and have that stupid dopey look on his face!

  
  


“What are you  _ doing!? _ ” Gaster demanded, sounding surprised and shocked, but there was no way Sans could’ve missed the hint of anger in his voice. “I thought we agreed that-”

 

“‘e  _ wants _ to be my mate, dad,” Sans defended quickly. “didn’ force ‘im to anythin’!”   
  


 

“‘re we… not allowed ta… be mates?” Comic asked Sans a little worriedly. 

 

  
And that seemed to surprise Gaster even more. He glanced at Comic, hearing the question and responding before Sans could.

 

“No, I… have no say in who my son mates or not,” he said, his tone a bit quieter, apologetic. “I simply hadn’t expected you would agree to this. I was worried my son would…” Act up on his more primal urges. Maybe he should’n’t’ve judged his son as quick as that… He knew Sans would never  _ want _ to do something like that, but he was young and demonic urges could be hard to control.

 

“I do apologize. Do- uhm… You might want to… get ready, though, we are ready for the burial.”

  
  


Comic gasped, wiggling out of Sans hold to go to his dresser. “g-give me a moment, i got a offerin’ fer dem! just let me get changed!” And get cleaned. “can ya tell dem ta wait f-fer me please?!” He asked, looking up at Gaster a little hopefully.

  
  


Gaster nodded understandingly. “Of course, we wouldn’t start without you,” he said, already heading back out to the others again, leaving Sans and Comic alone.

 

Sans finally got off the ground, too, his face still slightly flushed. He had a _ hard  _ time willing the small bulge in his pants away, but managed to eventually, before he turned to Comic. “uh… sorry,” he muttered a bit awkwardly. “shouldn’t’ve gone that far…”

  
  


Comic turned to Sans quickly, waving at him. “n-no! it was good, i l-liked it!” He looked down a little shyly. “thank ya… maybe… we can con’inue it some o’der time…?”

  
  


Sans face felt hot at the question, but he nodded. Oh  _ fuck _ , yes please.

 

“‘d love to,” he told him quickly, trying to will his excitement away for now.  _ Now _ was not the time!

  
  


Comic smiled sweetly, “thank ya!” Relieved they would continue this some other time, grateful for everything Sans has done for him, and feeling blessed his demon self has found a nice monster as his mate.

 

But he blushed as he held clean clothes, a rag in his hand with a bowl of water near his bed. “uh… i uh… can ya maybe… just turn ‘round?” That still doesn't mean he will wash himself in front of him! He couldn’t live that down, and would most likely die on the spot. He covered as much as his body as he could with his clothes, his old dirty clothes looked to thin and to exposing, making Comic blush.

  
  


Sans eyes widened a little, but he nodded quickly “yea! yea, sure, uh…” He turned around, grabbing his staff from the corner again and holding it close a bit awkwardly. “i can, uh… also wait outside if y’ want…?”

  
  


Comic squeaked as his head ducked down to hide his face. “i-i-i-i mean, ya can do wha ya want! i don’ mind ya here, i just don’ want ya ta see me! b-but it would be easier on both of us i-if ya left… bu-but ‘m not k-kickin’ ya out! n-no! ya can stay! dat will be nice too!” Comic struggled to say, shaking again at his embarrassing reply. 

 

He gave up after struggling long enough, looking down to hide his glowing face. “ya can do wha ya want…. don’ make me choose please...”

  
  


Sans’ chuckle was soft and sympathetic, wanting to turn around and give Comic a hug, but deciding against it to not worsen his embarrassment.

 

“all’s good,” he quickly assured him softly, though. “i’ll wait outside for ya.” He headed for the door, giving Comic a small wave before he left, closing the door behind him and leaning against the wall next to it.

 

Damn.

 

He really hoped his face would stop feeling this warm by the time they joined the others.

  
  


But luck wasn’t on his side, Russ came by to get cleaned and dressed to, asking if Sans was alright. But after getting so many ‘i’m fine’s he let it be. He entered the hut only for Comic to scream and throw the cloth in Russ face.

 

Russ gently took the rag off his eyes, laughing lightly. “IT’S ONLY ME, DON’T WORRY.” Already closing the door when Comic screamed back.

 

“well knock ya dingus, ‘m naked!”

 

“I SEE THAT.”

 

“ _hold. yer._ _tongue_!”

  
  


Sans could only hear bits of the exchange, but having heard the scream just fine, he could puzzle the rest together himself. And he snickered quietly, guessing he should’ve warned Russ first. But boy, he had been busy himself keeping his blush from getting even worse, this time of embarrassment.


	22. why do these skeletons get burials and not us?

Comic and Russ came out with their bones lacking in any dirt or grime, their clothes were black with only the trim blue for Comic and orange for Russ. It was to represent this loss and give respects to their loved one. Reaper had a long blouse, a belt over it with a vest. His pants and boots look new as he walked the dead terrain. 

 

Comic had pants, boots, and a plain shirt, but he had a coat on that reached to the ground. Like it was his own cape or cloak, but it had a hood and long sleeves that reached his wrists and a little over. Comic folded it up so his hands would be useful, but the sleeves still looked big.

 

Comic held the thick wooden staff, about half way the staff started getting thicker and twist like licorice. Small white colored stones were imbedded into the lines the twist effect did, scattering them all about the top of the staff like a art piece. On the very top was a bigger white gem, the wooden having a good hold on it like it was trying to grab it, like a hand having its fingers closing around it.

 

They slowly walked to where the bodies were going to be buried in, Comic offering his hand when he passed Sans by the door. He would normally be too timid to even ask Sans for his hand, but the weight and tension of the things he had lost does that to someone, felt like a few hours, when really it was years, was too much.

  
  


Sans gave Comic a bit of a surprised glance, but took the offered hand gladly, giving the other a soft squeeze.

  
  


Comic already saw the others waiting for them, skeletons in each hole, waiting to be laid to rest. Comic drew in a shaky breath at seeing his loved ones like this, Russ himself letting out a sigh. He knew what his brother was going through.

 

He went through it while getting the bodies to lay them to rest, this was the first time Comic got so close, of course it will be hard, just like it was for him. Aster and Hearth had to be right next to him until he was able to calm down again.

  
  


Gaster had a spell readied. Once the time would come, he only had to speak the trigger word, letting a low current of dark magic pass by the graves to fill them up with the piles of loose earth next to them, sealing the dead ones up to rest.

 

But it was not yet the time. Comic was still mourning. Sans was beside him, not saying anything, but holding the others hand, reminding him of his presence. Papyrus and Grillby were watching from a bit off the group, their expressions as sad as any’s.

 

Gaster cleared his voice a little, tone low and grave, grieving. “Comic. Russ. Would you like to say some words before we close the graves?”

  
  


Comic stepped up, holding his staff tightly in one hand, and Sans’ in the other. Lowering his head and closing his sockets to give his respects, but to also not see his once friends and family mauled like this. “even if our relationship started to become bitter in da end, i fergiv’ ya. growin’ up with all ya was a blessing. i am truly sorry i wasn’ d’ere ta pertect ya all from... what had….. ended.. yer…. lives….” Comic started to trail off, losing his voice and unable to continue.

 

Russ was close to crying, just like his brother, now he too bowed his head. “I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER THE FUN TIMES WE HAD, I TOO, FORGIVE YOU ALL FOR LISTENING TO THE…. PRIEST… I STILL LOVE YOU ALL….. AND I ALWAYS WILL…” Russ looked away after that, his shoulders starting to shake.

 

Aster stepped up, now bowing his head. “I had fond memories of this place, growing up here and learning new things. I’m sorry this is how your stories end, but…. I’m also not…” Comic and Russ looked up at him with hurt and confusion. Aster ignored them, “Even if you did something horrible, I still hold you all dear, now is not the time for my anger, but now is the time for love and to finally give you all peace.”

 

Aster nodded towards Gaster, they were all ready.

  
  


Gaster nodded back, before raising his staff, magic coalscending at the tip of it.

 

“May you all rest in peace for the rest of eternity,” he spoke softly, before pointing the staff to his left. He spoke the word to activate the spell, using his staff to lead the small current of magic to push the earth into the holes, sealing them all. The magic faded away after only some seconds, leaving barely a trace, only the spots of disturbed earth, small humps in the ground being left as a reminder.

 

He lowered his staff again, bowing his head a little in respect to the dead ones.

  
  


“if… if…. i may… i hav’.... somethin’ ta… contribute… ta dem…?” He looked at Aster for permission, holding his staff close to his chest. Aster looked at him a little confused, not hiding his surprise, but nodded with a small smile.

 

Comic nodded, letting go of Sans hand to hold his staff with two, “dis is fer all ya.” He whispered to the graves, before he slammed the butt of his staff on the ground. A green glow started to shine from the staff, before grass, flowers, pretty vines, and all these greenery started to grow around him, around the graves, leaving the actual graves alone, but surrounding it with beautiful flowers of different kinds. The vines formed a sort of grave stone for them all. 

 

Before it spread when Comic started to walk to the village, letting the plants move around the ground and over huts and every building that was made. Vines going around molding structures to add support, a garden of different flowers on the roof of each hut, the plants engulfed everything into a more greener and a lovely place, masking the sorrow and pain under. The village now looked like a garden, everything covered with something beautiful. The only thing that was spared was his own home.

 

Comic turned back to the graves and bowed. “i hav’ made yer homes beautiful, just like all of ya. each flower represents one of ya, i hope ya like it….” he looked at a flabbergasted Aster, who eyed the scene with wonder and…. pride? Russ actually pulled Comic into a hug, telling him what good of a job he did.

 

Hearth smiled at the view, nodding in agreement.

  
  


Despite trying to hold himself back, knowing this was a serious occasion, Papyrus couldn’t help to squeal a little, gasping impressed as he watched the show of plantlife and magic. It was impressive, a spell that seemed so powerful, yet peaceful.  _ That _ was something Papyrus wanted to learn as well!

 

Grillby was impressed as well, eyes wide as he looked over the result, it being absolutely breathtaking. He has met a few sorcerers in his lifetime aside from those surrounding him at this moment. But  _ never _ in his life has he seen a spell like this.

 

It was a pure display of power and control put into something of life. Of healing. Something pure and beautiful. Something Sans, and maybe even Gaster a little, found themselves craving for.

 

There was a lot one could do with warlock magic, dark magic and Gaster had  _ specifically _ spent his entire life learning to use it for good, but… There were simply some limitations dark magic could never cross.  _ Life _ and  _ healing _ were one of those. 

 

Dark magic was destructive and dangerous, meant for defense and battle, for claiming and killing. The only thing it could ever harmonize with would be other types of dark magic.

 

But… something like this? Something as beautiful as this was something  _ neither _ of them could  _ ever _ achieve, no matter how hard they’d try. And knowing that was a little… sad, for lack of better terms.

 

But neither of them decided to complain out loud, Sans instead going up to Comic again, giving him a warm smile.

  
  


Comic blushed heavily, everyone watching his work with wide eyes and impressed looking faces, it made him feel warm and light. “When did you learn this?” Aster’s voice brought Comic back from his over the clouds feeling. “This is very impressive, you are very gifted my son.”

 

Comic looked down bashfully, “i-i-i… learned it myself. just kinda… experimented… “ not looking at anyone’s faces and what their reactions could be. But he still heard the proud hum from Aster, and it only made his face grow hotter. 

 

“You truly are gifted, I am proud to have you as my son!” That did it. Comic held his staff between his arm and torso, while his hands went to each cheek to cover how much he was glowing. He swayed side to side, sockets screwed shut as he basked in the praise, feeling like he could take on the world.

 

“....thank ya….” He said oh so softly, looking like he was about to explode in joy.

  
  


“You’ve taught yourself?” Gaster asked as he finally came up to them as well. He hummed impressed, glancing over the results of Comic’s magic. “That is truly impressive… Keep that up and you will be a very powerful sorcerer one day.”

 

For a split second Sans looked up at Gaster in betrayal, a small part of Sans asking why  _ Comic _ would get that kind of praise from him, while Sans, his  _ own son _ didn’t. But… Sans still was struggling with his control over dark magic and he  _ knew _ Gaster was proud of him for the things Sans was good at.

 

He just… was… a little envious.

 

But a much, much bigger part of Sans was just… proud. Of his mate. Of how amazing his mate was. Of how his amazing mate  _ chose _ to be his.

  
  


Comic made little unintelligible skeleton noises as he went to his knees, his whole skull blue. Russ laughed and rubbed his back softly. “I THINK WE SHOULD LEAVE HIM ALONE NOW, TOO MUCH PRAISE TO HANDLE. NHEH HEH HEH!” 

 

“Yeah, we kind of skipped breakfast, I think we are all hungry after all that work.” Hearth smiled, walking over to the cow they still had, avoiding the plant life by walking on the short grass with no flowers on it, how thoughtful.

  
  


“GRILLBY CAN YOU HEAT MY PIECE UP AGAIN, PLEASE???” Papyrus asked as he ran after the two elementals already heading to their fire pit.   
  
“We’ll heat up the cow again, don’t worry,” the elemental responded, chuckling ever so slightly.

 

Gaster decided to follow them with a nod, Sans staying back. He squatted down to be at Comic’s height, giving him a curious look. “are… you ok?” He asked softly, smiling at him a bit amused, but definitely befuddles. “wanna eat some? y’gotta be hungry.”

  
  


Comic nodded shyly, looking up at Sans with the bluest face, looking like he was going to explode at the attention. “y-y-y-y-ye-yea… l-l-let’ g-g-go-go.” He gave him a nervous smile as he got up, pressing himself to Sans side. Russ let him go and watched as his brother cuddled up to Sans, looking to be calmed right beside Sans.

 

Russ quietly observed, mindful and thoughtful of the scene before him.

  
  


Sans cuddled right back to Comic, enjoying the closeness. They walked a bit slower than the others had, but arrived only a bit later, Grillby and Hearth having already prepared a small fire to warm the cow up on.

 

Grillby was handing them all plates with a good piece of meat on each, Papyrus and Gaster taking theirs with a polite, ‘thank you,’ while Sans was a bit too distracted by Comic to, barely even noticing the plate being held to him.

  
  


Russ and Comic took their plates with a small nod and a ‘thank you’, eating quietly. Comic leaning to Sans as he ate slowly, sometimes glancing at Sans every so often to see if he is bothered with him laying on him all the time.

  
  


Sans didn’t mind Comic leaning into him at all, instead putting an arm gently around the other monster, angling it so he could still use it to eat. Papyrus meanwhile scooted a bit closer to Russ, trying to get his attention, but not trying to invade too much.

  
  


Russ eyed him as he got closer, unsure as to why a little kid is scooting up to him looking up at him excited and have a big smile on his face. “MAY I HELP YOU?”

  
  


“I, UHM!” Papyrus hesitated a bit nervously. Oof. Why was he nervous? He’s never really felt nervous like this! It was just Reaper, but before he turned demon! He  _ likes _ Reaper!   
  
But that was the issue, wasn’t it?

 

He had been so happy when Reaper seemed to accept him, like him even. And now he seemed to have forgotten him completely, forgotten them all, and… Well. What was he supposed to say? ‘Hi, we used to be really good friends, can we do that again?’

 

No, he’d couldn’t just approach him like that, that’d be plain… weird.

 

He’d just have to start anew. Strike up a conversation.

 

“DO… UHM… DO YOU… KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING TO LIVE… NOW???”

  
  


Russ made a face, like he hasn’t thought of it and the thought actually left a bad taste in his mouth. “I SUPPOSE I SHALL GO WHERE EVER MY DAD GOES?”

 

Aster nodded. “I am traveling my child, we will travel around the land and finally get to know each other! We three can be a family once again!” Aster looked overjoyed at the thought, looking like he was up in the clouds at the very thought of it.

 

“YEAH! I WOULD LIKE THAT!” Russ chirped out, getting a small ‘yay’ from Comic, who was leaning more heavily onto Sans, sockets fighting to stay open.

  
  


Sans looked up a bit surprised, worried at that. Would he… have to lose his mate  _ again? _

 

No. No, he would go with him, he’s already been traveling for the past year, but… He knew Papyrus had been missing their father and was happy to be with him again. And he  _ knew _ Gaster had to return to the king and the queen now that the demon issue was resolved…

 

He’d either have to take Papyrus away from their father  _ again,  _ or leave without his brother…

 

Sans didn’t say anything out loud, though, instead Gaster did. “There’s still enough room in the carriage for you. If you wish you could come with us to the southern kingdom to stack up and prepare for your journey,” the great sorcerer-slash-warlock suggested, Papyrus nodding excitedly.

 

“THAT’S A GREAT IDEA!!! GRILLBY AND HEARTH ARE COMING TOO, SINCE THEY ALSO LIVE IN THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM! WE’LL ALL BE GOING TOGETHER!”

  
  


“That sounds great, when do you think we should leave?” Aster asked Gaster, looking at him from the other side of the fireplace.

  
  


“I’d say that’s up to you, boys,” Gaster said, glancing towards Russ and Comic. “We’re ready to go any time, but if you still need some time to say goodbye to this place, we can wait. Take your time.”

 

Grillby nodded as well. “Plus you might want to pack some things to take with you,” he added. 

  
  


Russ looked at Comic, who was fast asleep on Sans, drool slowly tickling down his chin. Russ looked back at the two adults, knowing he was going to have to make the decision. “MAYBE STAY A DAY OR TWO, THIS PLACE…. HOLDS TOO MANY MEMORIES TO STAY LONG.”

 

Aster nodded in understanding. 

 

“Do not worry my child, you are alright now.” Russ nodded with his father, believing him entirely.

  
  


Gaster nodded alongside him. “Very well then, we’ll stay for a bit.” He glanced over to Sans and Comic, the latter having already fallen asleep, though Sans didn’t seem too far from it either. “Per...haps we should help those two to a bed…?” He suggested a bit awkwardly.

 

Grillby looked over to the two skeletons in question as Gaster brought it up, surprised to actually see them  _ asleep. _ He hadn’t missed Comic and Sans already acting close, though… he had thought Comic wouldn’t remember anything about their relationship, hadn’t expected him to already trust Sans as much as to fall asleep next to him. Had he been… wrong?   
  
“NO, I AM VERY CERTAIN SANS IS STILL AWAKE AND CAN BRING HIMSELF TO BED!” Papyrus argued with a bit of a chiding tone to it, crossing his arms. Sans let out a small grumble in response.

 

“...am not,” he muttered barely audible.

  
  


Russ got up to gently move Sans away from Comic, laying him down so he could pick Comic up without the other skeleton falling to the side because of the lack of Comic’ weight. He started to carry his sleeping brother to his bed, knowing that he should be exhausted with covering the whole village with plants and flowers.

 

“I SHALL TAKE MY OWN BROTHER THANK YOU.” Aster laughing lightly at his son ditching Sans without his mate, almost protective how he held Comic.

 

“Looks like Sans has to deal with a overprotective brother.” Hearth tease lightly, grinning at Sans with crossed arms.

  
  


Sans groaned in agony at the lack of warmth and weight on him, feeling left alone. “‘m aaaalll aloooone,” he lamented out, dramatic like a dying swan. He lied like that on the ground for a bit, hands raised into the air, sort of waiting for someone to pick him up and carry him to the bed like Russ had with Comic…

 

But nobody came. 

 

So eventually he just sat up again, Gaster and Papyrus chuckling a little as Sans frowned at them grumpily, rubbing his eyes tired.

  
  


“sannnssss…… ssaaaannnnzzzz….” Comic’s voice was calling out from the hut, he sounded tired and sleepy, but managing to wake up enough to realize Sans wasn’t near him. Calling out to him like a dying animal moaning in agony. And that’s how Comic sounded, a dying animal moaning out loud hopelessly.  “sannnssssssss…”

 

Russ’ head popped out from the door, looking a Sans a little miffed and bored. “HE IS CALLING FOR YOU.”

  
  


Sans looked up surprised, not having actually expected that, but definitely happy Comic seemed to still want him close. He got up, hurrying a little over to Reaper, pausing when he passed him.

 

Should he… say something to him? “uh… thank you,” he decided to say a bit awkwardly, giving the taller skeleton a small nod, before he went past him into the hut and over to Comic.

  
  


Comic was laying on his back, his hands open like he expecting someone to come and go into his arms. His hands were making little grabby motions, his sockets were still closed and he looked to be moaning for Sans in his sleep. Like his subconscious took it upon itself to call after his mate.

  
  
Sans chuckled softly at the sight, but decided not to let his mate wait. He climbed onto the bed and into Comic’s arms, snuggling into the embrace comfortably. It was true he hadn’t actually been sleeping when Russ took Comic from him, but that didn’t mean he  _ wouldn’t _ sleep. How could he not when he had his comfortable mate waiting for him in this comfortable bed, ready to nap.


	23. *insert 'battle scars' song here*

Comic was watching Russ pack a few of his clothes in a small leather bag, his staff right next to him leaning on the bed he was sitting on. “so….. da ya believe dem?”

 

Russ look up surprised. They were currently alone in the hut, tomorrow they would be leaving to continue their new life. “WHAT SHOULD I BE RECONSIDERING?”

 

“da town… did ya see da claw marks…. da way da villagers were ripped apart….. dey were eaten…” Comic looked into Russ’ sockets sadly, Russ himself looking confused and motioning Comic to continue. “dey said we were demons… ‘nd by dat time we were kicked out…… da ya think….. we ‘re…. da reason….”

 

Russ stood up, looking down with a grave face. “WE COULDN’T BE, WE WOULDN’T DO SUCH A THING!”

 

“we were angry ‘nd hungry….”

 

“THAT DOESN’T MAKE US THE REASON THEY ALL _DIED!”_

 

Comic stood up at Russ’ raised voice. “did ya not ‘ear pops? ‘es said da village was attacked, _den_ we turned ta demons! _after!_ wha if we did it! ‘nd we ourselves turned ta demons cause of hate! ya know how demons were made just like me! don’ deny it!”

 

Russ looked away, his sockets unreadable, mostly because it looked like a shadow seemed to cover the top half of his face. “JUST GET PACKING…..”

 

Comic looked down in frustration, what else could he say? He could only hope his brother will come around and they could ask the ones they are traveling with, or their father, the truth.

 

He just hoped he was wrong.

 

-

 

Russ left to join Hearth and Grillby to hunt for food, the cow gone and the pieces left were becoming rotten from the exposure of the air and elements. Gaster and Aster looked to be having a grand time together, both being great magical beings, why wouldn’t they get along? Sans and Papyrus looked to be relaxing in the garden, leaving Comic to himself now that Russ was gone.

 

After a few moments to himself, Comic looked at the forest he used to hide with his brother in when the village chased them out, a look of determination on his face. He grabbed his staff and marched right in, determined to find answers.

  


“I JUST DON’T UNDERSTAND,” Papyrus sighed out, lying on the ground next to his brother. Sans made a small, questioning hum, so Papyrus elaborated. “YOU GOT SO CLOSE TO COMIC SO FAST. HOW??? I THOUGHT HE DIDN’T REMEMBER EITHER!”

 

“‘e doesn’t,” Sans confirmed, humming a bit. “to be honest, i think ‘m cheatin’...”

 

Papyrus gave him a surprised, confused look. “WHAT???”

 

“i… think the mating thing still… affects ‘im?” Sans tried to suggest, shrugging a bit. “‘e… i ‘dunno. y’ _see_ how much he likes me already…”  
  
“DOES HE KNOW ABOUT THAT???”

 

“yup,” Sans admitted. “asked about the mark. so i told ‘im. and… he _wanted_ to be my mate.”  
  
“OH!” Sans couldn’t _quite_ figure out the tone Papyrus was having, but there was definitely surprise. “WELL… I’M REALLY HAPPY FOR YOU! JUST… DON’T HURT HIS FEELINGS. HE TRUSTS YOU.”

 

“...i know,” Sans said. He rolled from his back to his side so he was facing Papyrus. “so wha’ ‘bout you an’ Russ?”

 

“I DON’T KNOW!!!” Papyrus replied quickly, replied desperately. “I JUST DON’T KNOW HOW TO APPROACH HIM! REAPER JUST SORT OF CAME TO _ME_ AFTER A WHILE, BUT RUSS…”

 

“y’ could try givin’ ‘im belly rubs, death liked that.”  
  
“SANS, BE SERIOUS!!!” Papyrus huffed, causing Sans to chuckle a bit. “I CANNOT GO UP TO PEOPLE AND GIVE THEM BELLY RUBS!”

 

“what?” Sans asked, feigning surprise. “y’ sayin’ i’ve been livin’ my life wrong this whole time? i always go up givin’ people b-rubs!” He rolled over to his hands and knees as he said that, crawling over to Papyrus, wiggling his fingers.

 

“NOOO!!!” Papyrus screeched as Sans locked him to the ground tickling his stomach mercilessly, the younger skeleton unable to decide between screeching and laughing. “THOSE ARE NOT RUBS!!! THOSE AREN’T RUBS!!! GET OFF ME!!! AAAAAHHH!”

 

Sans took mercy on him, getting off of his brother chuckling.

 

“YOU’RE AWFUL!!!” Papyrus complained anyways, but Sans didn’t miss the smile on his face.

 

-

 

So far, Comic has found trees with the same claw marks on the huts in the village. the air in the forest seemed denser, like something sad or dark loomed through this forest. This wasn’t here last time he was in the forest, not counting when Russ and him were running away from the group when they first woke.

 

But the story never sat well with him. One moment they were staying in the forest that now has the air like something bad happened here. Next the village that kicked them out was murdered and somehow Comic and Russ were spared? With both of them becoming demons after? Clearly the thing that killed the village has gone through the forest, the marks here were as old as the ones in the huts.

 

So they must have encountered the demon. But they were told they were demons, thats why half of their lives went by without a single memory. All Comic remembered was the pain his belly had for the lack of food, barely any sleep, and constant sadness of being thrown out.

 

Demons were made from sadness and anger, something Comic remembered feeling before everything went black. So is it really a long shot that _they_ were the ones who killed their loved ones? They were hungry, and he saw the bite marks on the bones that still remained of his loved ones, laying in the grave, even without skin or muscles, he could almost feel their horror.

 

He read of the books that were hidden under their house, now knowing it was their fathers books, but still. He learned how demons were made, and what kind of demons people can become depending on what they have been wronged for. Russ and Comic were oh so hungry, so could they have become demons that ate the whole village?

 

The thought almost made him want to puke, just about him ripping open and _eating_ the ones he grew up with, his loved ones, his family. The horror and pain they must have let out, which he must have ignored, and since he was already disgusting, he might have even enjoyed it too.

 

Now that did make Comic puke, his supper leaving him, but he couldn’t really mourn for it. He only stared at it, like he was trying to see if he could spot anything that was a piece of his family. Faces flashing in his head, little kids, elders, everyone. His legs went weak, so he finally decided to have a break, feeling dizzy and sick. He rested his back on the trunk of a tree, holding his head in one hand while he breathed deeply and quickly, looking up and waiting out the sickness spell.

 

-

 

“WHERE IS COMIC ANYWAYS?” Papyrus asked after a bit. “I WOULD’VE THOUGHT YOU’D BE TOGETHER!”

 

Sans made a small surprised noise, like he hadn’t quite noticed Comic wasn’t here until now. But now that he had, he sat up straight, slightly nervous at the idea of not knowing where he was.

 

“i ‘dunno…” Sans muttered a bit warily. Papyrus seemed to catch up on the worry in his brother’s voice and put a calming hand on his shoulder. “WORRY NOT! I AM SURE HE IS MERELY RESTING AT THE HUT STILL!”

 

Sans… wasn’t so sure about that for some reason. But he nodded, getting up from the floor and heading to the hut to check. Papyrus followed too, hurrying after his brother, whom was walking a lot faster than he usually did.

 

Sans almost kicked the door in when he entered the hut, surprising Aster and Gaster who’d been discussing something inside. Sans didn’t waste a second.

 

“where’s comic?” He asked, his tone urgent.

  


“I-I thought he was with you?” Aster answered a little lost, unsure what to make of Sans just bursting in like that.

  


Sans cursed under his breath, Papyrus trying to reach out for him to calm him down, but he was already too quick to speed walk out of the hut again, the younger ending up having to follow.

  
“SANS, I AM SURE HE IS FINE!” Papyrus insisted.

 

“then why is he _gone!?_ ” Sans didn’t like this. He hadn’t left with Hearth and the others for the hunt. And Sans was getting more and more antsy by the minute, feeling as if something was wrong with his mate. His mate who he was supposed to _protect._ And he didn’t even know where he was!

 

“WHERE ARE WE GOING???” Papyrus asked confused as he kept following Sans, the skeleton not stopping to think about where to go for a second.

 

“‘dunno,” Sans replied without hesitation. “but i think he’s been through here.”

 

“HOW CAN YOU TELL???” There was curiosity in his brothers voice, confusion.

 

How _could_ he tell? Sans wasn’t so sure himself. He didn’t smell Comic as strongly as he had before, when he had seeked him up during the nights they secretly met. Right now it was more like a feeling. A feeling of presence. Maybe a hint of his smell. Something, _something…_

 

Sans froze. Papyrus did, too.

 

There were large claw marks on a tree. Claw marks Sans couldn’t mistake as anyone else’s but Death’s and Reaper’s. They weren’t… _fresh._ They seemed old, withered, the tree having to struggle with mushrooms, lichen and parasites ever since their claws dug through the trees defense.

 

-

 

Comic got up slowly, his head no longer spinning, but still left like it is stuffed with cotton. He moved around the puddle of cyan vomit before continuing on. He is sure he will find more clues as to what happened here, and why this place has the looming feeling of dread and pain.

 

He just had to keep going…

 

This time he used his staff as a cane, looking for anymore claw marks that could lead to where this ‘demon’ went. If he was wrong and he found the demon that killed his family, well at least he had his staff, but if he found out it was him and his brother all along. Well he wouldn’t know what to do with himself.

 

He stumbled on a cave, one that wafted the air of dread and death. It sent shivers down his spine, but he continued, a little shaky and almost whimpering out, but he managed to control himself.

 

There was nothing in the cave, it was empty, but it felt like anything could jump out of the shadows and grab him, hurt him, the feeling that this place wasn’t safe ringing in his head like alarms.

 

He slowly made his way to the back of the cave, holding his staff tightly and waiting, but what he saw was stomach dropping. Bones littered everywhere, they looked old and brittle, but still. They were piling up, they all looked like animal bones? He could make out deer, a bear, and a few others that were too destroyed to make out. But what made his stomach do loops was the fabric on the floor, in the nest in the middle of it all.

 

He slowly walked towards it, it was his shirt, the one he was kicked out in…

 

Comic went to his knees, taking the fabric in his hands and holding it up in front of him, they were his, it was definitely his. His shirt was in the nest of all this mess, either he was face to face with the demon, which he doubted because the aftermath of the village, he couldn’t take a demon on. Or he was the demon…

 

Tears dripped down his face, he didn’t move, didn’t make a sound. He wasn’t even scared anymore about something jumping out and hurting him. His back was to the entrance, open for attack, but he didn’t care, his thoughts were on the ones he killed, and the sins he now knows were his…

 

-

 

Sans cursed when he saw the small puddle of waste magic, knowing well enough where it originated from. And Papyrus did too, the younger brother letting out a small, uncomfortable noise.

 

“What happened to him…?” He asked, his tone quieter than usually, anxious.

 

“...i don’t know,” Sans replied, but he took his brother gently by the wrist to keep going. He didn’t want to see this any longer than he had to. He had to find Comic, had to get to his mate to make sure he was _safe._

 

Sans could tell he was getting closer. The feeling of presence eventually got replaced by a faint, familiar smell of him, easy to track and follow for Sans. It didn’t take too long for them to get to a cave entrance, Sans halting warily.

 

Comic was in this cave. Was he alone? Did something _live_ in there? He didn’t know and it was driving Sans crazy. He had no idea what to prepare for!

 

“...be careful,” he whispered to Papyrus, before they both quietly entered the cave, Papyrus illuminating it slightly with his magic. Before he dropped it, gasping a little when they both spotted him.

 

“ _comic!_ ” Sans breathed out, immediately running towards him, dropping to his knees to pull the monster close, examining every part of him to see if he’s hurt. “what _happened!?_ ”

  


Comic looked away so he wouldn’t see his face. So he wouldn’t see the disgusting _freak_ that was him. He held the old fabric in his hands tightly, not saying a word or noise of acknowledgement besides his attempts to hide his whimpers and hiccups.

  


“ _comic,_ ” Sans urged again, his tone quiet and worried as he couldn’t figure out what was _wrong_ with him. He wasn’t hurt, didn’t seem like he got attacked or anything, but he was obviously crying, avoiding him. “comic what’s-”  
  
He didn’t get a lot farther, before Papyrus lit his magic again, soon ending up in him letting out a shocked gasp. Sans glanced at his brother alarmed, before following his stare towards the back of the cave. Which was _littered_ in bones of dead animals, a few oddly familiar from the cave Sans first met Death in.

 

And then he noticed something in the other monster’s hand, a torn piece of fabric, the color looking almost exactly like the one of the shirt Death used to wear and _oh._ Oh.

 

“oh…” Sans muttered out, voice shocked, but quiet. He gently pulled Comic into an embrace, not sure what he was supposed to say. _How_ much the other had figured out. He just wanted to hold him close, give him _some_ sort of comfort…

  


Comic stayed still in his hold minus his shivering. Why would Sans hug a freak like him? Didn’t he know he killed his own family? His loved ones? Everyone he loved? What if he did the same to Sans?! The thought came slamming down on him like a sledgehammer, shattering his whole world and his soul. He quickly pushed Sans away, afraid at what he might become, might do.

 

“g-g-get ‘way! i d-d-did it! i ki-... i ki-ki-..... d’ere gone cuz of me! i might do da same ta ya next! get ‘way before i ‘urt ya too….” He scooted away from the two skeletons, covering himself and moving his hands as far away as he could from the others. Like he was scared he might grab them and hurt them. He curled on himself near that bones, leaving the nest in favor of keeping away.

 

“leave me ‘ere. i clearly belong ‘ere.” Comic whispered, hot tears taking his vision away, making everything blurry.

  


“WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO HURT US???” Papyrus asked, shocked and a little hurt.

 

Sans glanced after Comic, trying to move after him slowly, carefully, scared of scaring him away. Like he would’ve with Death back then. Like he didn’t quite know how he would react.

 

“...comic, we _know_ what happened,” he said carefully. “we _know_ what you did, what you’re capable of. and we _trust_ you. you _and_ your demon form.”

 

“DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT SANS DID WHEN WE FIRST FOUND YOU???” Papyrus asked, and Sans quickly turned to his brother, eyes wide, trying to shush him. He didn’t _need_ to know!

  


Comic looked up confused, his face stained with tears almost covering his cheeks, he shook his head. Noticing how Sans was suddenly looking very nervous and trapped. “...n….o…”

  


Sans looked at Papyrus like he was begging him not to go on, but his brother ignored him.

 

“YOU WERE STILL A DEMON AND WE HAD YOU CAPTURED,” Papyrus told him, the words leaving him like it was nothing special. “SANS WAS VERY SCARED OF YOU ATTACKING US. I… THINK YOU MIGHT EVEN WOULD HAVE, THOUGH I STILL DO NOT LIKE HOW WE TREATED YOU BACK THEN. BUT BACK THEN MY BROTHER WAS SCARED AND WORRIED, SO HE HAD YOU CHAINED UP AND… AND DIDN’T TREAT YOU WELL…”

 

Sans shrunk in on himself as Papyrus just kept going on, feeling like the scum on earth. Especially now when he said it like he had Comic chained up, a boy, a normal boy shackled and starved and treated like a while animal…

 

“HE COULDN’T DO THAT ANYMORE WHEN HE HAD TO LATER. AFTER WE ALL GOT TO KNOW YOU, AFTER WE ALL LEARNED YOU’RE A _PERSON,_ NOT A CRUEL BEAST. HE DIDN’T WANT TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT AGAIN AND WHEN WE LET YOU BE FREE, YOU DIDN’T HURT US EITHER!!!”

 

There was a small beat of silence where Papyrus glanced from Comic to his curled up brother, back to Comic. He smiled at him a little, before he went on.

  
“WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY IS THAT WE ALL DO BAD THINGS WHEN WE’RE CONSUMED WITH NEGATIVE EMOTIONS. WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES! BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN WE SHOULD LIVE OUR LIVES WORRIED WE’LL OR OTHERS DO THEM AGAIN. COMIC, WE SPENT DAYS AND NIGHTS WITH YOU AND REAPER AND THE WORST YOU EVER DID WAS BITING SANS ONCE WHEN HE STILL HAD YOU IN CHAINS!”

 

Comic looked at Sans lost, searching for answers, but only to see Sans curling in on himself. Which is answer enough that all Papyrus said was true. Sans chained him up. Sans starved him. Sans treated him poorly.

 

But…

 

Eating your entire village wasn’t a mistake. You can’t make a mistake like that.

 

“maybe…. sans was ‘ight…. ya should of left me in chains, ta starve, ta die.” He turned away from them and laid down on the ground. “ya don’ make a mistake like killin’ and  _ eatin’  _ yer whole village….”

  
  


“don’t fuckin’  _ say _ that,” Sans croaked out, his voice slightly shaky. He barely looked up from having been curled up on himself, only to slightly glare at Comic. “what the village did to you was  _ fucked up  _ enough to turn y’ to  _ demons! _ they fuckin’ had it coming.”   
  
“SANS!!!” Papyrus squawked shocked and a bit angry.

 

“what!? i’m right!”

 

Papyrus was still glaring at Sans, but did not disagree or argue. He glanced back to Comic, eyes slightly apologetic. “YOU WERE NOT YOURSELF WHEN YOU ATTACKED THEM,” he said. “AND… THE… VILLAGERS WERE SORT OF THE SOURCE OF THAT… THAT DOES NOT MEAN THEY DESERVED DEATH. BUT NEITHER DO YOU. I  _ KNOW _ YOU’RE A GOOD PERSON, DEMON OR NOT!”

  
  


“if dey didn’ deserve ta die, ‘nd ‘m no different. i should get da same outcome as dem, it’ only  _ fair _ …” Comic muttered, whimpering between his sobs, covering his face even if his back was turned to them. His body going numb, limp, like a rag doll. “leave me ‘ere ta repay fer wha i done…”

  
  


“DEATH WON’T REDEEM YOU,” Papyrus argued, but his voice was careful. “...COMIC, I UNDERSTAND YOU’RE SAD, BUT… DYING WON’T HELP ANYONE. IF YOU WANT TO REDEEM YOURSELF YOU SHOULD… SHOULD PROVE YOU’RE BEING A BETTER PERSON NOW! WHICH YOU  _ ARE! _ ”

 

Sans was watching his brother, surprised at how easy the words seemed to come to him. Sans didn’t even know  _ what  _ to say. He just knew he was scared and he didn’t want Comic to  _ leave _ , or rather stay here to  _ die. _ Because of something that happened  _ so long ago. _

  
  


Comic looked up with sad sockets, sniffing at Papyrus and thinking over what he was just told. He did have a point, nothing could be done now, and even if he dies it won’t change anything. He gave a garden to them, he cried for them, he regretted and loved them. He was really just grasping at straws now to make them happy, show that he was sorry. 

 

But will this really make them happy?

 

They didn’t kill him or his brother, they just kicked him out, but never actually hurt him. They never wanted to hurt him, even when they went against him. They just pushed them out, chased, but never hurt.

 

They wouldn’t want this…

 

“okay…” Comic muttered, sitting up and rubbing at his face, trying to make it look like he wasn’t crying just now.

  
  


“COME HERE,” Papyrus cooed, opening his arms to welcome Comic into a hug.

  
  


“sorry...i… don’ wanna touch now..” Comic muttered, giving Paps a sad look before getting up slowly, his arms around him to give some sort of comfort for himself. His staff pressed between his arm and body, walking out the cave slowly.

  
  


Papyrus glanced after Comic a bit surprised, but didn’t push it. He offered Sans a hand to help him up, which he accepted quietly. They both ended up following Comic out of the cave, Sans looking kind of lost, while Papyrus just looked sad.

 

Sans  _ wanted _ to help his mate, but he didn’t know how. He wanted to take his hand or give him a hug, but he had  _ said _ he didn’t want to be touched right now, and… he didn’t know what to  _ say. _ Or if he  _ should _ say anything after Papyrus already seemed to have convinced him. 

 

But he sped up his step a little anyways so he was walking next to Comic, barely brushing his side, still giving him an easy way to move away, but also showing he was there for him.

  
  


Comic was looking down on the floor, not even looking up to acknowledge Sans at all. Only hugged himself tighter, shame filling his chest until it was painful. Sans shouldn’t look at him, he didn’t deserve Sans looking at him. He felt tears trying to form, but he willed it away, screwing his sockets shut for a moment until he was sure the tears won’t form.


	24. Aster did the magic. *jazz hands*

They arrived back at the hut after a little while, though it was late already, most of the others already asleep by the time they arrived. Only Gaster, Russ and Aster were still awake, looking up surprised when they finally arrived.

 

“Where have you been!?” Gaster asked, his tone worried.

 

“WE WERE LOOKING FOR COMIC,” Papyrus replied, sounding tired himself.

  
  


Comic walked past them with his head down, hugging himself. He walked into the den, Russ following close by, managing to go into the den fast enough before Comic closed and locked it.

  
  


Gaster watched surprised as Comic locked himself into the den, before glancing back to Sans and Papyrus. “Is he… okay?”   
  
Sans shook his head slowly, before shrugging. “found out ‘e killed the village,” he explained, his tone quiet and tired. “he… didn’t take it well…”   
  
“HE WILL BE FINE!” Papyrus assured both his brother and Gaster. “I THINK WE SHOULD ALL GO TO SLEEP NOW.”

  
  


Aster looked at the den with a worried expression, “Oh….” He really hoped Papyrus was right, or Russ can make him feel better now that he was with him. “Let’s just…. go to sleep then.”

  
  


Grillby and Hearth were already taking up one of the beds, so Sans and Papyrus decided to sleep together in the other. Gaster ended up using a spell to teleport his bed from the castle to the hut. It was a bit bigger than the ones the brothers and the priests were sleeping in, but still small enough to fit into the room and leave enough room for Aster to get his own bed.

  
  


Aster did magic too, he now acquired a bed. He is now sleeping on the bed.

 

-

 

Sans was groaning quietly when light hit his face the next morning. He nuzzled his face into Comic next to him, putting his arms around him. Ugh, it was too damn early for the sun to already be rising, but now he was already awake. Might as well do the best out of it.

 

He snuggled closer to his mate, feeling him close, slowly wrapping his arms around him. One of his hands slowly wandered over the other’s back, down until he reached his butt, giving it a soft squeeze.

 

Before he heard his brother screech loudly and shocked.

 

Oh.

 

_ Fuck. _

 

Sans tried to scoot away from Papyrus, but their legs were tangled now so he was struggling, Papyrus doing the same, until he hit the wall and Sans fell off the bed, taking the blanket with him.

 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Papyrus screeched shocked, frantically.

 

“i’m sorry!” Sans practically screamed back. “ _ i’m sorry! _ i forgot i was sleeping next to  _ you! _ ”   
  
Papyrus didn’t even respond, he was just screaming as he processed what just happened, waking up the others.

  
  


Aster, Hearth and Grillby sat up, Aster jumping off the bed and grabbing his staff. Hearth looked at Papyrus with squinting eyes, seeing that Papyrus wasn’t being attacked, but still screaming.

 

“What’s happened?” Aster and Gaster said at the same time.

  
  


“ _ nothing! _ ” Sans screeched immediately, Papyrus still screaming.

 

“I’M NEVER SLEEPING IN A BED WITH YOU AGAIN!!!” He screeched at Sans, not even paying attention. “NEVER!!! AGAIN!!!! UGH!!!”

 

“ _ i’m sorry! _ ” Sans said again, the others simply watching them confused, definitely having missed something.

  
  


“What did we miss??” Hearth asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

 

Russ throwing open the den door, and running to them. “WHAT HAPPENED??” Not noticing Comic closing the door to the den after him, locking him out of the den.

  
  


“NOTHING.” It was Papyrus turn to say it this time while he got off the bed, already picking up his clothes and marching towards the door. “I AM GOING TO THE FOREST ALONE TO SCREAM FOREVER, PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB ME???”

 

He left them, Sans watching after his brother a bit stunned, Grillby and Gaster still confused. They were about to ask again what happened, but Sans was faster, groaning over them as he let himself fall back onto the floor.

 

Russ stayed standing kind of awkwardly, he wanted to go back to his brother but he felt like it was rude to leave Sans like this. He ended up going back to the den, only stopping when the door didn't open. At first he was confused, but realization quickly struck and in made him grow more nervous. 

 

“BROTHER….. PLEASE OPEN THE DOOR…” When there was no answer, Russ sat down at the entrance of the den, waiting for his brother to open it up in his own time. “PLEASE…?” 

 

Aster walked over to Russ and gave him a sad smile, sitting next to him to show his support. Russ smiled uneasily at his father, but didn't say anything more. They watched Hearth announce that he was going to heat up some food for all of them, leaving the hut to start a fire. 

  
  


Grillby considered following his brother to start the fire, but decided Hearth was a big boy that could do it himself. He ended up hesitantly getting closer to Aster and Russ instead, glancing at the door somewhat surprised.

 

He had noticed Comic, Papyrus and Sans missing the day before, they must’ve gotten back during the night. But there had to be something he was still missing.

 

“Is… everything alright…?” He asked hesitantly. Did something happen to Comic while they were gone?

  
  


“NO.” Russ said a little grumpy, Aster shushed him and rubbed his knee while he looked up at Grillby. 

 

“It will be, soon, we just have to wait.” He said surely and confident. “We might not be starting to travel today though, maybe tomorrow, or the next day.“

  
  


“...That’s alright,” Grillby assured them, still a bit confused, though. Something obviously  _ had _ happened with Comic, but what? If he’d gotten in danger or be hurt he probably wouldn’t be locking himself up, so…

 

He glanced over to Sans, the warlock quickly looking away as their eyes met, looking busted during a crime.  _ Something _ had happened, and he  _ had _ noticed Sans and Comic getting very close very quickly. 

 

Grillby marched over to Sans, pulling the skeleton up to his feet without a warning, before dragging him out of the hut. Gaster glanced after them surprised, but trusted the priest wouldn’t actually hurt his son, and Grillby ignored him anyways.

 

“‘ey, what the hell!?” Sans complained, but Grillby didn’t stop until they were outside the hut, a bit off the fire Hearth was making, but still close enough for him to see them if he’d be looking.

 

“What did you do?” The elemental demanded without hesitation.

 

“i didn’t do shit! what the hell!?” 

 

Grillby wasn’t budgin, the skeleton pinned to the wall of the hut, two arms around him and the flame towering over him. “Don’t bullshit me.  _ Something _ happened and you were with him during that time. What did you  _ do? _ ”

 

“i was with ‘im ‘cause i was fuckin’  _ looking _ for him!” Sans hissed back at the elemental. “he left to the forest by ‘imself last night an’ when i found ‘im he’s… he found out what…  _ really _ happened to the villagers.”

 

Grillby’s eyes widened. He drew back from the skeleton, arms pulled to his chest. “I… fuck,” he breathed out. “I’m  _ sorry, _ I thought-”

 

“he  _ wants _ to be my mate, y’know,” Sans snapped back at him. “y’all gotta fuckin’  _ stop _ assuming i’d force anything onto him!”

  
  


Hearth looked up and stared at them, overhearing what they heard, but decided to stay quiet and just listen. Grillby made the mistake of assuming, he wasn't gonna butt in for no reason when his presence isn't needed. 

  
  


“So he… found out…?” Grillby asked, getting a small, hesitant nod from Sans.

 

“didn’ take it well,” he muttered, his arms crossed a little, still defensive, but also worried. He pushed past Grillby, a bit rougher than he had to, being sort of salty about the accusation. Grillby simply watched Sans walk past him and into the hut again.

 

He walked over to Hearth, sitting down at the fire with a small, exhausted sigh.

  
  


Hearth first stayed quiet to see if Grillby would say anything, when he didn't, Hearth looked down at the roasting leftover cow meat. “Russ is taking it well…. or he either doesn't know or it hasn't sunken in yet to mourn.“

  
  


Grillby glanced towards the hut at the words, as if he could actually see Russ, though the door was closed and he couldn’t. But Russ  _ had _ seem fairly normal this morning, more than he would’ve expected someone who just found out they killed their entire village would act.

 

“...He does,” the flame admitted thoughtfully. “I… hope he’ll be able to… help Comic.” He was worried for the young skeleton. He couldn’t imagine how hard finding something like that out had to be, but… if he’d lock himself up like that, there wasn’t a lot they could do to help him…

  
  


That didn’t turn out so well. Comic opened the door for no one, going so far as to not leave the den for two whole days. Russ was right in front of the door the whole time, Aster was with him most of the time, but his old body needed to stretch, so he left for a few moments to walk, bring Russ food, try to make Comic open the door for food, and failing.

 

Hearth was making himself helpful, grabbing any plant life that could make something edible like fruits and keeping it with them, just in case Comic did come out.

  
  


Sans was worried sick for Comic, though with Russ and Aster already being by the door waiting for him, his actual family, he felt sort of out of place if he would be there as well. Of course that didn’t mean he was ignoring the whole Comic situation, he still sat by the door sometimes for an hour or two, asking Comic if he was alright, if he wanted some company, but always eventually giving up when he got no response.

 

Papyrus was worried for Comic and Sans both, even if he was still a little miffed at his brother for what had happened. He could see that Comic locking himself up was wearing Sans down, and it was worrying Papyrus alongside the fact he was already worried for Comic himself. But there wasn’t a lot he could do except remind the others to still take care of themselves and help out wherever he could.

 

Grillby had decided to distract himself rather than deal with the situation. He felt helpless seeing them all worry around an untouchable Comic, so he left their camp as often as he could to hunt down whatever he could catch. They didn’t exactly have the weapons to hunt down large animal, but he still brought back some small ones for dinner every day.

  
  


Only after the second night, the door to the den finally opened. Quiet and slowly, to not alert anyone. Comic looked out to see his surroundings, only to feel a stab in his chest made him cringe for the sight at his feet. Reaper and Aster were on the floor, laying on their sides and asleep. 

 

How long have they been like this? Why would they stay out like this? Why would they do something like this for him?

 

Well his brother was just as guilty as he was, so maybe he wanted to suffer with him? But Russ didn’t believe him when he told him what he found, what he saw, and what he thought. He was still in denial. 

 

Comic sneaked by them, walking past all the sleeping figures to go outside, his staff close to his chest. He looked around at the greenery in the village, letting his staff make a soft glow as he healed and strengthened some vines and flowers. This was his last gift to them, might as well take care of them.

  
  


Sans only noticed Comic leaving the den because he hadn’t been asleep in the first place. He was lying awake - and alone after Papyrus decided to sleep with their father instead - in Comic’s bed, barely reacting at all at first when he heard noises.

 

But after a small moment he realized,  _ oh, _ those noises were  _ Comic. _

 

He roused out of the bed quietly, hastily grabbing his staff and throwing a cloak over his sleeping gowns to follow Comic out of the hut. He spotted him quickly, watching the other heal the plant life of the otherwise dead village. But Sans didn’t say anything, kept quiet as he stayed close to the hut, watching his mate do his thing.

  
  


Comic was moving from hut to hut, only when he went to the well at the center of the village to fix the vines did he stop, remembering a grown villager say the staff he held was cursed, and threw it into the well, Comic spent a week trying to get it back.

 

He always held the staff close to him after that, never out of sight. But…. the villagers shunned them for their magic, his staff was magic. He looked down at his staff, the staff he adored and loved, put so much care into the thing, always seeing something he can’t live without. But now he saw a cursed stick, the reason why they were shunned, why the ones he loved had to die.

 

His hands were trembling as he fought with himself, ever so slowly holding the staff out, over the well. Tears starting to spill from his sockets at the thought of losing something as precious as this. Something cursed. 

 

His hand finally let go, letting the staff fall into the darkness, he heard a splash, then finally backed away and turned his back to the well. Comic was sobbing into his hand, with one final look to the well, he took five steps away from the well before turning quickly and diving right after it head first.


	25. "the well is so deep you can see the stars at day time"

“ _ wait! _ ” Sans screamed as he ran towards the well, seeing Comic jump into the well after his staff. He had stayed quiet when he watched Comic go from hut to hut. Had stayed quiet as he watched him struggle with his staff, as he threw it into the well, because he  _ knew _ Comic was struggling with a lot and he didn’t want to invade him in his personal moment, didn’t want to scare him into the den again.

 

And seeing him throw away the staff had been hard enough to watch. As a warlock grown up a mage he  _ knew _ how important a staff was to a magic user, not as a tool necessarily. But your staff was part of you, part of your identity, part of your whole being. It was like an extension of your body, a new limb, and yes. You can replace a staff. But it’ll never be the same, never feel the same, never act the same.

 

And then Comic jumped after it and suddenly it felt like time was standing still at the same time as it was going too fast, too fast for him to get to Comic in time, to catch him, and oh god, oh god, he was falling down this well, was falling into god-knows-what, and Sans was  _ freaking out. _ The magic in his own staff reacted, dark and violent and crackling in the maw of the dragon skull at the tip of it, and Sans didn’t even notice at first. Didn’t know  _ what _ he was doing aside from running towards the well.

 

Before masses of dark tentacles shot out of the well, Sans stopping in his tracks with a terrified yelp and falling backwards to the ground. They left almost as quick as they appeared, but not before - albeit somewhat roughly - delivering Comic including his staff back onto the surface.

  
  


Comic was curled up around his staff, holding it tight like someone was trying to take it away. His sockets were screwed shut and him and the staff were drenched in water. He cried out when he met the ground, but he didn’t uncurl or open his sockets, shaking with fear at what just grabbed him, thinking this was his final moments.

  
  


Sans cursed as he tried to get up again, before eventually deciding to stay on the ground and just scramble and crawl his way towards Comic. Fuck, fuck, fuck, what had he done? What if Comic got hurt? He didn’t even know what that damn spell did and Comic wasn’t a  _ demon _ anymore, he couldn’t just suck up dark magic that easily.

 

As soon as he reached him Sans pulled Comic onto his lap, ignoring how drenched he was and instead checking him all over for injuries, whispering quick, “are you okay?”s and “i’m so sorry”s to his mate.

  
  


Comic finally opened his sockets to look at Sans in the face, surprised that he even saw him awake. “‘m fine. wha happened?” He sat up to look at the well, then his drenched staff, then back at Sans. “how did ya get my staff….?”

  
  


“ _ ‘m sorry, _ ” Sans breathed out rather than responding. He stopped checking Comic over for injuries once he sat up, but still kept close and kept his eyes on him big, apologetically and worried. 

 

“i-i ‘dunno what happened,” he admitted, his voice stammering and anxious. “i just- i saw you fall a-and then  _ that _ happened…” He could tell, of course, that the tentacles were his magic. But he still couldn’t tell how or when he had summoned them.

  
  


Now Comic looked away in embarrassment, almost in shame. “i…. wasn’ try’na kill myself….. i…” He stopped talking, figuring this wasn’t helping him much at all. “‘m sorry…” He whispered, wiping the tears going down his sockets.

  
  


“oh,  _ fffuck, _ ” Sans breathed out, his tone quiet and sort of rough. He didn’t feel a lot better knowing Comic was here and safe. He  _ should, _ but it was like the scare of seeing him jump down the well hasn’t quite left him yet and Sans just felt anxious and worried and scared.

 

“oohh fuck.” He wanted to give him space. Sans  _ wanted _ to give him space, but right now he couldn’t, instead just reaching out for Comic and holding him. Not tightly, but still close, because right now Sans felt like if he wasn’t touching him, holding and protecting Comic,  _ something _ was still going to happen to him.

 

He took a shaky breath.

  
“are… ‘re you alright…?”

  
  


Comic sucked in a gasp, before just letting himself sink into Sans, his face going into the others neck. “‘m fine, thank ya…” his sockets closed as his hands went around Sans, holding him close. “thank ya so much.”

  
  


There was a moment where Sans couldn’t quite react. Where he just held Comic like he belonged into his arms, the words taking their sweet time to sink in, like Sans couldn’t quite believe they were true. 

 

But when they did, when Sans finally realized Comic was  _ fine, _ he was  _ save, _ he couldn’t help himself but to let out a small, wavering and blubbery laugh. Not because he was happy or because this was funny, but he was just  _ so damn relieved. _

 

“i don’ even know what i  _ did _ !” He argued, his voice unable to quite decide whether to sound amused or still worried, and it was an odd, shaky mix of both.

  
  


“just accept my thanks….” Comic muttered, relaxing into Sans hold, “ya still did it.”

 

He didn’t say anything for a while, letting Sans hold him tight, only when the pain in his stomach returned, telling him once again, he didn’t eat anything for a while.

 

“may i... dry off ‘nd get somethin’ ta eat please?” After everything that just happened he wouldn’t be surprised if they all would be watching him like a hawk, never letting him go without someone else and being the ones to give him food. He will also be okay with them not giving them food too, he was used to not eating, so if they were gonna punish him with no food, that was okay.

 

But he still wanted to make sure.

 

“am i... not allowed ta eat?” Flashes of the mother villagers went through his head, them refusing to give them any food, saying to come back once they were normal.

  
  


Sans blinked a bit surprised, his hold on Comic easing. “no, no, ‘course y’ can eat,” he said quickly, oddly surprised and confused at the suggestion he wouldn’t be allowed to. “ _ please _ do. there’s, uh- j-just dry yourself off, ‘m gonna bring you something.... ok?”

 

It was still pretty early and not exactly their usual time to eat or even be awake, but like hell was Sans going to not let Comic eat, not after he had locked himself up for two days.

  
  


Comic nodded, letting Sans do his thing, while he got up and held up his staff, he admired it for a few moments. The thought of losing it was dreadful, and to think he almost did again. He flicked it once, making a strong wind blow at him, it was a wind stream, moving it so it only hit him. It was cold due to his clothes being wet, but slowly his clothes started to dry up. Of course Comic being the klutz he is, made the wind to strong, blowing him away until he landed in a bush next to a hut.

 

Well…

 

At least his clothes were dry…

 

Somewhat at least.

  
  


Sans was already coming back with a bit of last nights leftover meat, as well as some of the fruits Hearth had gathered, only for him to see Comic almost flying into a bush. He straightened surprised, on alert, for a moment thinking they were under attack as he jogged over to Comic. He held a hand towards him to help him up, the food underneath his other arm.

 

“what happened!?”

  
  


“i was doin’ wha ya told me ta do!” His face was covered in a blue blush, sheepishly taking the hand and letting himself be pulled up. “sorry… but at least ‘m dry?” he looked up at Sans with a lopsided smile, shrugging his shoulders and saying his statement kind of like a question.

  
  


Sans didn’t immediately let go of Comic’s hand, looking down at him in both surprise, confusion and a hint of wonder. Before he burst out laughing a little. He let go of Comic’s hand, but still stayed close to him, using his now free hand to run over the other’s clothes a bit, stroking off some leaves and sticks.

 

“you alright?” He asked softly, slightly amused. “i brought you food.”

  
  


Comic nodded weakly, “i am.” but he couldn’t look at Sans for that long before the smell of the food hit him. “can i…?” His hands were reaching out for the food, timidly looking up at Sans but avoiding making eye contact.

  
  


“‘course! ‘s for you!” Sans replied quickly, before gladly handing Comic the food. “uh, the meat’s still good, but cold. lemme make a quick fire.” Lately they would usually let Hearth or Grillby take care of the fires, but that didn’t mean Sans couldn’t still make a small one.

 

He didn’t exactly have the time or patience to prepare a whole campfire, so he just collected up the closest sticks, working on starting a small fire.

  
  


Comic sat on the floor with the fruits in his lap, ignored what Sans said, not registering what he said until the meat was already in his mouth, munching on it happily and enjoying the blood squeezing out when he bit into it. Only when Sans finished talking did Comic noticed he talked at all, he looked up with the meat in his mouth, feeling as if it will disappear if he let it go. “wha?”

  
  


Sans glanced at Comic surprised, not having expected him to just go ahead and eat the meat like that and… he wasn’t sure if he found the sight worrying or… oddly comforting. He shouldn’t feel comfort at the way Comic kept the slab of meat between his teeth, blood still slightly dripping from it, but… it was something Sans  _ knew. _ Something he was used to, from Death.

 

“uh… i… ‘dunno if y’ should eat it like that…,” he said anyways, slightly awkwardly. Comic wasn’t a demon anymore, Sans wasn’t sure how well he would react to raw meats.

  
  


“i can’?” Comic asked, swallowing the chunk he ripped off and looking at the meat in his hand. “it…. feels so normal though….” 

 

He handed the meat slab to Sans, looking down ashamed, “‘m sorry, here.”

  
  


Sans took the meat slowly, his reactions lagging a bit behind as he went to cook it over the small fire. That… was definitely something left over from Death. Sans didn’t know of any common people that would eat raw meat, so unless Comic had some  _ really _ odd habits… this must be something left over from his demonic form.

 

“‘s ok, don’ worry,” Sans assured him. But he decided to keep the rest for himself, not wanting to dig up any bad memories or discoveries that could upset Comic.

  
  


While the meat was cooking, Comic took a bite of the weird looking fruit, he didn’t remember seeing it grow here, but yet he wasn’t….. awake for a while. He only trusted Sans and took a bite. The taste was horrible, it was to sweet and tasted…. wrong. The meat they have giving him before wasn’t bad, but it still tasted weird, overcooked. He liked the taste of the meat he just had.

 

It tasted right, something normal, something he can count on. Now Sans was going to ruin a good piece of meat and make him eat it. But that was okay, he shouldn’t be allowed to get what he wants, he doesn't deserve that. He should shut up and take what is gratefully given to him.

 

He powered through the fruits he was given, he needed his belly full, then took the meat Sans given him when it was ruined to Sans liking. Comic took more time on the meat than the fruits, he tried to hide or mask the faces his body wanted to pull, not wanting to be rude and offend someone who is giving him something to eat. He was not going to spit in the face of the one, no, his mate. But as much as he didn’t want to hurt Sans, some of the disgusted faces slipped.

  
  


Sans was watching Comic curiously once he had put out the small fire again, not missing the few odd faces he was pulling. “are you… alright?” He asked concerned. He hoped Comic wasn’t sick or that Sans had accidentally given him bad meat. It shouldn’t  _ be _ bad! They were usually always making sure all the food they kept was still good.

  
  


Comic looked up panicked, shaking his head, “no! ‘m fine, thank ya fer everythin’! thank ya thank ya!” He bent down to bow at Sans taking a big bite into the meat to show how grateful he was, putting all his power into chewing and swallowing it without any issue, he didn’t pull any face due to the force he made his face stay in place, but he couldn't help the small eye twitch.

  
  


“‘s all right, comic, y’re part of our-”  _ Family.  _ “-group. ‘course i was gonna give you food, uh…” Sans wasn’t exactly very convinced, though. The other was acting kind of off, strained, like he was being judged for something, and it made Sans feel wrong.

  
“you… y’know you don’t gotta act in front of me… of us,” he muttered a bit quieter. “we all just want what’s best for you an’ russ… if anythin’s not good, just… let me know, ok?”

  
  


Comic shook his head, “‘m good, it’ good, i am grateful ‘nd ‘m happy ya care so much.” he scooted closer to Sans and leaned on his side so his head was laying on Sans shoulder, maybe a bit hesitant just in case Sans doesn’t like or want to be leaned on, but Comic had a small smile on his face.

  
  


Sans hummed a little, not entirely sure if he believed Comic or not, but he decided to let the topic drop for now anyways. He put an arm around the other as he felt him rest his weight on him, pulling and holding him close. 

 

Despite how odd things might be feeling, Sans still enjoyed the closeness, still enjoyed having his mate in his arms again, being able to keep him safe. He lay his head over Comics, gently kissing the top of his skull as he held him.

 

“‘course i care,” Sans assured him softly, contently. “you’re important to all of us. plus y’re my  _ mate. _ you’re… mine an’ i’m yours.”   
  
_ If _ Comic was  _ still _ willing to be his mate.

  
  


A blue hue formed on Comic’s cheeks at the words, being so confidently claimed like that. He closed his sockets and leaned in fully to the other skeleton, not even minding the taste of the meat as he finished it off. “yea…. ‘m yers, ‘nd yer…. all mine.” Comic cuddled up to Sans with new affection, the smile growing on his face.

  
  


Sans smiled relieved as he heard Comic agree with him, relaxing into him as he felt Comic cuddle up. It didn’t take long for Sans to doze off like that, arms contently and protectively around Comic as he slept out in the open.


	26. let's be like those birds~

Grillby was the first one to wake up. He got out of the bed quietly, not intending to wake anyone while he got ready. It wasn’t until he saw the opened door Reaper and Aster were sleeping in front of that Grillby noticed that something was off.

 

He peeked inside the den, but no one was there, and for a split moment Grillby panicked. He gently placed his hand on Russ’ shoulder, shaking him a little to wake him up.

 

“Russ,” he said, still in a whisper to not alert the others. “Russ! Where’s Comic?”

  
  


Russ was in a light sleep enough to be woken up with the first shake. Getting up quickly to see what happened, “WHAT’S WRONG???” wincing a little when he heard and saw his father mutter something in his sleep and turn away from them.

  
  


“Comic,” Grillby said, his voice hurried, but hushed. “He’s gone. He’s not in the den.”

 

He didn’t wait for an answer, already getting up again to look around quickly, noting that Sans was missing as well. Had they left together? Or was Sans just searching for Comic again, like last time?

  
  


Russ quickly got up and pulled his father to a sitting position, affecting waking him up. “Oh? What? Ugh Russ please, let me sle-eee” Aster screeched when Russ roughly pulled him to his feet, panicked.

 

“COMIC IS GONE!!!!!” He yelled loud enough to wake everyone, already bolting out the hut at lighting speed.

  
  


Grillby only stayed long enough to hear Papyrus let out a sharp, startled noise, already getting up himself, dragging Gaster with him. But before he actually saw either of them getting out, Grillby was already storming after Russ outside the hut, alarmed and looking for the two missing skeletons.

 

But… It didn’t take long at all for him to find them.

 

Both of them were passed out outside on the ground close to a well. It was hard to tell what exactly had happened, had lead to the two of them being like this, sleeping outside, but there were traces of a small fire and some leftovers of Hearth’s fruits. Which meant Comic had eaten. Which… kind of was a big relief to the elemental.

  
  


Russ ran over to Comic and almost tackled him, hugging him tight and ignoring Sans falling face first on the ground now that Comic was not there to support him. Aster ran up to them soon after, pulling both skeletons into a hug while Comic yelped in surprise.

  
  


Sans gasped when he landed on the ground, rolling until he was sitting up, staring at the family of skeleton with wide eyes, startled. But he relaxed once he saw it was only them, getting up to his feet a bit tiredly.

 

They must’ve fallen asleep outside, huh… Grillby was coming over to Sans, not wanting to disrupt the family’s moment, but not wanting to be alone and left out either. He stopped next to him, glancing at the warlock curiously.

 

“...What happened?” He asked.

 

Sans gave him a small shrug. “‘e left in the night. i followed. stuff happened.”

  
  


“YOU HAD ME SO WORRIED!! DON’T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!” Russ screamed, when he wasn’t saying anything he was making whining or crying noises. Aster rubbed at the crown of Comic’s skull, a big smile on his face. 

 

“sorry sorry, i won’!”

 

“You most certainly won’t!!” Aster almost scolded.

 

Hearth had his arms crossed next to Grillby and watched the scene in front of him. Being the last to get up and exit the hut, having trouble waking up and stumbling around.

  
  


Gaster and Papyrus had arrived before him, but they were staying back surprised and confused, watching the reunion. They took a bit to catch up on what was happening, but they easily could see the most important part.

  
Comic wasn’t locking himself up anymore.

 

Papyrus could easily see how glad Russ was about seeing his brother again, but when he glanced to his own brother, he could also see the relief plain as all day on Sans’ face. Even Grillby seemed less stressed than usually, they all had been worrying about Comic so much.

 

“IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN, COMIC!!!” Papyrus decided to chirp in happily. “I HOPE YOU’RE… FEELING BETTER!”

  
  


Comic laughed sheepishly, looking at the distance with shame, “yeah…. thanks…. sorry ‘bout da trouble.” He made a low strangled sound when Russ held him tighter, Comic’s face going bluer when Aster kissed his skull.

 

“DO NOT WORRY BROTHER, WE ARE HERE FOR YOU!”

 

Slowly, ever so slowly, Aster and Russ let Comic go, letting him get up to greet everyone properly. “Comic, how do you feel about traveling? Are you ready or do you need more time?” Aster asked, leaning down to whisper lowly to Comic. 

 

Comic looked up surprised, like he was reminded of something important. “o-oh! yea, we can go whenever.”

 

Aster nodded, “tomorrow maybe?”

 

“sure” Comic smiled softly.

 

“Great I’ll tell the others.” Aster nodded walking up to Gaster first to discuss the plans. Comic on the other hand slinked towards Sans, pressing to his back like he was hiding and just cuddling at the same time. His head was resting between Sans shoulder blades, his hands resting on Sans’ sides.

  
  


Sans hummed contently, gently letting his hands trail over Comic’s, moving the other’s hands until Comic was hugging him from behind, Sans’ own arms over Comic’s. God, he missed him. Missed the closeness, missed his mate.

 

Grillby seemed to be picking up on Comic and Sans having a moment, and Gaster and Papyrus had already left the scene to prepare everything for tomorrow. So he turned to his brother.

 

“We should probably go for a hunt,” he suggested, mostly as an excuse to give the two skeletons some space. “We’re almost out of meat.”

  
  


Hearth nodded, heading to the hut to grab his morning star before heading out, asking if Russ wanted to come and getting and excited squeal in return.

 

Comic watched them go with wonder, a deep hue of blue on his face after Sans pulled his arms around him, the closeness left surreal and a little awkward, but he didn’t mind. “sorry ‘gain… fer everythin’.” Comic laid his chin on Sans shoulder and looked at Sans from the side, before looking down to avoid eye contact. His hands subconsciously holding Sans a little tighter, like he didn’t want Sans to turn around and lash out or go away.

  
  


One of Sans’ hands found Comic’s, giving it a gentle squeeze. “‘s ok,” he assured him softly. “y’ needed time. i… get that. ‘s ok.” He was just  _ so glad _ Comic wasn’t locking himself up anymore. Was eating and talking to them.

 

Comic was holding him tightly, but Sans still somehow managed to wiggle his way until he had turned around to face Comic, giving him a small soft but cheeky smile. 

 

“i missed ya, though,” he said, his voice quick and quirky and he left the smallest kiss to Comic’s teeth.

  
  


Comic smiled shyly to the ground, the look of overjoy didn’t go unnoticed, he let his head drop to Sans shoulder, moving closer as much as he could until he was pressed flush against Sans. “hehe, i missed ya ta.”

  
  


Sans wasn’t sure why, but he oddly hadn’t actually expected Comic to say that, and it left him feeling giddy and warm inside. He held Comic like that, comfortably in his arms, leaning his head slightly to his mate’s as he simply enjoyed the closeness.

 

Yea, he liked Comic. He  _ really _ liked Comic. Not more or less than Death of course, they  _ were _ the same person deep down. Sans just suddenly realized, he  _ liked _ them. Aside from Comic being his mate because Sans  _ marked _ him, because he had claimed him during a heated moment… 

 

This was more than just that. Than just this instinctual mate thing. The protectiveness, the clinginess. It was more than just that, it was just feeling comfortable with Comic, was just wanted to hold Comic, be with him, whether as mates or not.

 

“y’ wanna go for a walk a bit?” Sans asked eventually, the question surprising himself. But he felt odd just loitering around here with his mate, when Grillby, Hearth and Russ were getting busy, and even Gaster and Papyrus were preparing something, Sans seeing them walk by every once in a while. They could at least go into the forest a bit where they could expect to be a bit more alone.

  
  


Comic looked up at him surprised, nodding dumbly as he started to follow Sans. Holding his hand as he was led away from prying eyes of their friends and family, Comic stayed close, his side pressed to Sans’ while his arms were wrapped around one of Sans’ arms. “u-uh, ya like… er…. yer…”  _ sweet _ . Comic wanted to say.

 

Sans held him so gently and comfortably, Comic couldn’t help but notice how sweet and kind Sans was, how caring and amazing this monster was. “nothin’.” but a much as he felt this way, he wouldn’t have the guts now, for some reason saying it felt like the most embarrassing thing in the world.

  
  


Sans glanced towards Comic a bit confused, but decided not to push it, whatever ‘it’ was. Instead he just hummed, like he appreciated the attempt at least, his skull leaning the slightest bit against Comic’s as they walked.

 

-

 

The thing about being a fire elemental was that you could never be quite silent. No matter how hard you tried, there would always be the faint crackling of their flames. Stealth did not come easily for them.

They had to find other sources of noise to overlay their own, making it a lot harder to get close to frightened animals. Them being  _ two  _ fire elementals didn’t make the situation easier either.

 

But Grillby was still glad to be out on the hunt with his brother again, it’s been a while with everything happening around them. It’s weird to think that just some months ago they didn’t even know any of the monsters they were now traveling with.

 

It weird to think that… the only reason they  _ were _ was because Hearth got the ridiculous idea to buy a  _ demon _ out of all things to put his dick inside. But then again, the skeletons had accepted them as their acquaintances and more, had helped them find a home and let them travel with them, helping them through their hard times. Maybe Hearth’s ridiculous idea ended up being for the best in the end after all…

 

Or maybe not, considering Death still had to suffer under that.

 

He wondered if that was something Comic still remembered. He’d say he wouldn’t, wouldn’t remember anything, but with how close he was to Sans already, as mates despite not knowing the other at all… it was either that there was still some of Death inside him, or that… there was something else between them…

 

Grillby caught up with his brother, having hung back a bit. His tone was quiet and hushed as he spoke as they were still on the hunt.

 

“You’ve noticed too how close Comic and Sans are already… haven’t you?”

  
  


It wasn't loud enough for Russ to overhear, who was walking in front of them, being the one to spot animals first without making noises to scare them. Meanwhile Hearth looked at his brother curiously, “A little, why?” 

 

His morning star was resting on his shoulder to avoid it hitting anything on the ground or sides, it being mostly in the clear near his head instead.

  
  


“I’m just… wondering what’s going on between them,” Grillby mused in reply. “If it’s just something… instinctual, or if they’re actually… courting?”

 

Why was he thinking about that so much in the first place, though? If he had to ask himself if they were courting, he probably already got his answer and should just stay in his place.  _ He _ wasn’t the one who had been interested anyways, his  _ brother _ had been.

 

“Doesn’t it… bother you at all?”

  
  


“I….yeah…” Hearth looked away, his grip tightening around his weapons slightly. “But after what I did before…. I don’t think I have any right to try to….. you know..” He looked ahead, not looking at his brother in shame, wanting the memory of Death chained and bent over him gone. He was so close too! His dick was right against Death’s entrance, even pressing up to it, thankfully, he never pressed in enough to actually enter Death.

 

The thought of what Comic went through, what Death went through, he wouldn’t want to add rape to it. He really wouldn’t. Sadly though, kidnapping and more starvation was something Death had to go through with them, being chained and almost raped.

  
  


Grillby’s eyes widened a bit as he remembered, suddenly feeling ashamed for even approaching the topic at all. “Right,” he said quietly, embarrassed. “Right. You’re right…”

 

They should probably both consider themselves lucky to even still get a chance to make it up to them for everything that happened, that they had done. Capturing Death, keeping him chained, treating him like a prisoner, like the prisoner he  _ was. _

 

Yet he… couldn’t help himself but to crave for something more. Something he found himself almost envious of, every time he saw Sans and Comic so close together…

 

-

 

Comic held Sans’ arm close to his chest, like he was claiming it as his and no one can take it away from him. His arms encircling around the upper arm, the humerus to his chest, while the lower part of the arm was pressed to his stomach if Sans didn’t bend his arms. Sans hand only brushed or pressed to Comic’s crotch when they walked, the movement making the hand keep bumping against it lightly.

 

The shorter skeleton never noticed this, always having his sockets closed and head resting on Sans’ shoulder while they walked, like he was sleep walking. If Sans wasn’t bending his arm away from it, his hand would keep touching over Comic’s privates. 

  
  


Sans, on the other hand as Comic, was very fucking aware of this. And he kept struggling with whether he wanted to bend his arm to give Comic the decency of not brushing over his crotch, or whether bending his arm would be giving in and admitting that he’s been aware of this and couldn’t quite keep his mind off it.

 

It was almost fascinating just how unaware Comic was. Did he just not notice? Or didn’t he even get the implications of Sans’ hand on his crotch in the first place? He  _ had _ seemed pretty innocent, new to the idea of even just kissing.

 

Or maybe he  _ did _ know, maybe he  _ did _ realize and he was just teasing Sans. Which was something he doubted a lot, but no matter whether he  _ wanted _ to tease him or not, it was still… effective, and Sans found himself slightly flushed, breath only the smallest bit heavier as he tried to remind himself this was supposed to be  _ sweet _ and  _ nice, _ not… whatever he was thinking of in the back of his mind.

  
  


The sounds of birds singing to each other made Comic open his sockets, he stopped walking and held Sans’ arm tighter to make him stop with him. His eye lights were on two birds, both flapping their wings at each other and singing in a lovely yet high pitch song. Comic’s head was still resting on the others shoulder, but he did turn his head a little bit to be able to see Sans face from the corner of his eye. 

 

“wha da ya think d’ere sayin’ ta each o’der?” He looked back at the birds singing above them to show Sans what he was talking about, already leaning into the arm a litte to get closer to Sans and feel his mate close.

  
  


Fuck, why did Comic have to be so cute? He leaned into him when Comic did the same, reveling in the closeness.

 

He realized he’s been needy since the well incident, realized he’s been wanting Comic more and more closer to him. If he could he wouldn’t let go of him ever. Not if letting go meant the chance of Comic getting hurt, of losing him, losing his mate.

 

His confused, surprised hum came out a bit croaky when he tried to respond to Comic, not having realized how lost in thought he was. He followed Comic’s eyes, but found it hard to focus, when all he could think about was Comic, was every tingling part of his body that touched Comic’s, was the ever so slowly growing and coiling heat inside Sans.

 

“i, uh…” What had his question been? What they were talking about…? “there’s a lotta flappin’ goin’ on. probably tryna… court each other.”

  
  


Comic looked at Sans surprised, his face going a bright blue hue, his head lifted off the shoulder to look at Sans. “y-ya r-r-rea-really think so?” Comic looked back at the birds with something new in his gaze, before his face gone completely blue and went to hide in Sans’ neck. “o-o-oh my lord!”

 

Comic was beyond embarrassed, feeling like he was invading something private. His face getting more heated up at the thought at what the birds were actually telling each other. Were they singing about mating? Getting each others attention with their vocals? The thought made Comic shiver, of what they interrupted, a private and sacred moment. “we should leave dem ‘lone.”

  
  


Sans chuckled surprised at the reaction, having noticed the bright blue hue on Comic’s face before he got to hide it in his neck. He hadn’t expected to get this reaction out of him for something so simple, but god how he loved it.

 

“d’awww, don’ worry, ‘m sure they didn’ mind,” he hummed. He turned a bit, pulling Comic into his arms now so he was looking at him, so he could actually appreciate the adorable expression. He leaned forward the slightest bit, leaving small kisses on the side of his mouth. “y’re bein’ absolutely adorable, though.”

  
  


Comic gasped, his hands flying to cover his face, but sadly didn’t slow them before they touched his face. But Comic didn’t really mind that he slapped himself hard with his hands, he was glad for their coverage. “shhhh! don’ say dat!” His spine was bend forward, so Comic was slouched against Sans, his staff between his  left upper and lower arm, where the joints met.

  
  


Sans felt the smallest hint of annoyance when Comic covered himself from Sans, stopping him from giving his mate the attention he deserved. But he didn’t let it out as annoyance, instead letting his hand gently move Comic’s out of his face, nudging his face up a little.

 

“c’mon, don’t hide y’reself from me,” he breathed out quietly.

  
  


Comic looked down when his face was revealed, his head going close to his body like a turtle. “yer weird.” Was all he said, because what else could he say? Stop making me feel like someone? Stop complimenting me because I feel weird when you do? No. He wasn’t gonna be anymore awkward than he already was.

 

His hands went limp in Sans’ hold, letting Sans do as he pleases. Comic glanced up at the others face with half lidded sockets, not moving his head from looking at the ground, just his eyelights were looking Sans over with something hazy in them.

  
  


‘ _ that’s no way to talk to your mate, _ ’ was what Sans wanted to purr out as he backed Comic against the closest tree, mouth on the other’s neck, reminding him who marked him, reminding him  _ why _ he was marked.

 

But instead he backed off a little, eyes wide and face flushed and  _ fuck, _ this was not what he was supposed to be thinking. He didn’t want to push Comic, rush him into something he might not want or be scared of, yet Sans felt so hot and craving for the other’s touch.

 

“fuck, i… hah… i ‘dunno wha’ i’m… doin’...”

  
  


Comic’s sockets were wide open, shivering when the mark on his neck was giving attention, making him remember it was there, and what it meant, and how it got there. “ya d-d- don’?” He asked a little dumbly, unsure what to do and what was really happening. “haha, uh, me too.” Dear lord, please save him from his own awkwardness. 

 

He aimed his bright blue head to the ground, swaying side to side. “wha d-d-did… ya wa-want ta do?” His hand were on Sans’ chest, fisting the shirt with both hands, not sure if he should pull Sans closer or farther away. He wasn’t even sure what was expected of him, and what this all inteled. 

  
  


What he  _ wanted _ to do? Sans barely suppressed a small groan as he felt a fire in his gut at Comic’s reaction.

 

“i wanna claim ya.”  _ But he already did. _ “again. i wan’ me all over you, wanna remind the other’s  _ who’s  _ mate you are.”

 

He wanted him close, wanted him underneath him, touch as much of him as he possibly could as he’d find out just what kind of noises Sans could draw out of him.

  
  


Comic inhaled sharply, shaking slightly under Sans’ gaze. His hands let go of Sans’ shirt to go over his crotch, like he was covering them. “y-y-y-ya m-m-me-mean d-d-down d-d-’ere?” Waves of that same feeling he felt when he kissed Sans in the hut came back, making him breath heavier and something hot coiling around in his pelvis.

 

He called him  _ his _ . Sans wanted  _ everyone  _ to know Comic was his, he wanted everyone to know that Comic was taken, want Comic all to himself. That knowledge made sparks fly in Comic’s ribcage, a warm and fluffy feeling to appear. That feeling of being wanted, that he mattered to this monster, and that just made him feel all the more grateful and more love for this monster.

  
“w-w-wh-wha d-da y-y-ya w-want me t-t-ta do?” He gently moved his arms away from his crotch, to his sides to give Sans access to his body, do what he wants, let him know he is all  _ his. _


	27. so what's this aftercare bullshit?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warning: explicit sexual content!**

Sans sucked in a sharp breath as Comic moved his arms away again, for a moment having already thought this would be it, he’s scared him away. But now Comic was giving him access and Sans didn’t hesitate a second to step closer, pulling Comic into him so he could grind slightly into his crotch.

 

“y’ wan’ me to?” He asked, his voice breathy and hushed, a slight tone like he couldn’t quite believe this was  _ true. _ “i don’... don’t wanna push y’ to anything…”

  
  


Comic’s hands flew around to hug Sans close, choking on his own breath with the sudden grinding. It felt so good, it felt so special and new. “yes, y-yes! d-do w-wha ya w-want w-wi-with me, i-i-i d-don’ mind, ‘m h-h-honored, r-really!!” Comic nuzzled his face into the others neck, hesitating with actually following through with what he wanted to do, or more like trying to muster the courage to actually do it.

 

But he did, Comic finally gave Sans a kiss, it was small and shy and almost nothing, but he managed to muster what he had to finally kiss Sans’ neck.

  
  


Sans hadn’t expected it, and especially hadn’t expected how a kiss this small could send this much of both needy heat but also warm love through him. 

 

“god, ‘m the one honored,” he hummed out, unbelieving of just how good Comic was to him, how  _ lucky _ Sans was.

 

He picked the other up gently, only to lead them both down until Comic was lying with his back on the forest floor, Sans hovering over him. “y’re so great,” he breathed out the small moment before he leaned into Comic to kiss him, his hands to his mate’s sides.

  
  


Comic whimpered as his mouth was taken, hands holding the shirt tight and pulling Sans close. His legs bent closer to his person, but he did spread his legs ever so slightly for Sans to come closer. He couldn’t stop shivering, every little caress and touch made him shiver even more, feeling a delicious touch invade his mouth. Comic moaned into the kiss, arching his back to get closer, wanting to press his body to Sans, want to feel him there, want to feel him there for  _ him _ . 

 

His whole body was burning, he was a shaking mess, but every little touch from this skeleton made him want to expose himself to more. But exposure was scary, it was scary and harsh and leaving yourself exposed hurt. Something inside him, something wild and angry told him to mate with his back to his mate, don’t leave your underbelly exposed, that was the weakest spot that needed to be protected.

 

But Comic trusted Sans, Sans wouldn’t hurt him, Sans  _ loved  _ him. For Sans, he would expose his underbelly. 

  
  


Sans groaned loudly into the kiss, feeling the coiling heat grow hotter and hotter with every passing second, with every shiver he could feel from Comic, with every noise he heard the monster underneath him let out. And, as he pulled off the kiss, panting hotly against Comic’s mouth with his eyes screwed shut, Sans had to actively fight himself to just fuck his mate into oblivion right then and there. Because  _ Jesus Christ, _ there was something going on with him, something distracting and clouding his mind, making it feel foggy and hazy, demanding him to only rely on his instincts.

 

But there was more than his instincts. There was Comic underneath him, shy and nervous and  _ trusting, _ and Sans wanted this to be special, despite how damn hot he felt. 

 

Sans let out a small whine, like a dog getting stabbed, holding back almost painful for him. But he let one of his hands travel over Comic’s shirt until he reached the bottom of it, hiking it up enough to expose the bones, now running the hand gently over them, feeling the sports in between the ribs.

  
  


Comic’s breath hitched, holding onto Sans’ sides for support as he is played with. He felt a little awkward, not knowing what to do, what should he do? How can he make this better for Sans? He doesn’t even know what will feel good.

 

“w-wh-wha sh-should i do?” he whispered to his mate, wanting to please him in every way,  _ anyway _ he can.

  
  


Sans’ eyes were half lid and hazy as he looked down at Comic, needing a moment to process the question. Shit, he didn’t even know. He’s just been thinking about how to make Comic feel good, how to approach the second part of this more gently, more carefully.

 

He didn’t even know what would make him feel good himself, he felt like he already had everything he could ever ask for with only having Comic underneath him. He just wanted him close. Wanted to feel him. Wanted Comic to feel him.

 

_ Fuck. _ It was really hard to focus, and Sans was already traveling with his mouth down Comic’s jaw and to his neck, leaving small kisses on his way. 

 

What was that? He wanted Comic to feel him. Right. Right. He could work with that. “j...just…” He took a hold of one of Comic’s hands, gently leading it under the cloak he was wearing and a bit inside his ribcage, until he could feel small fingers on his heated bones, his spine, and he shivered at the touch.

  
  


“t-touch?” Comic asked, looking at Sans face as his hands ever so hesitantly started to rub at the bones, his touch light like he was afraid of hurting him. “like dis?” His fingers gently went to rub where the spine and the ribs met, his fingers carefully rubbing, only his fingertips touching Sans. 

  
  


Sans was panting, open mouthed against Comic’s neck. “ _ hfff- _ yeah,” he breathed out, the small touched already driving him this crazy. “fffuck, yea tha’s good.”

 

It was hard to control himself with a monster this cute underneath him, a heat this strong coiling inside him. But it was absolutely fucking impossible when this monster was also touching him, his bones tingling with every slightest brush demanding more, like they were on fire and Comic’s touch was the only thing able to put it out. 

 

“god, i  _ wan’ _ you,” he groaned, moving his palm down Comic’s body now until he reached his pants, slipping underneath ever so slightly.

  
  


Comic’s face couldn’t get anymore blue, but he smiled lightly at Sans with his flushed blue face. “y-y-ya c-can h-hav’ me, i-i-i d-don’ mind.” He raised his shaky hand to pull his pants a little down to give Sans’ hand a easier time going inside.

  
  


Sans moaned at the words, gladly taking the invitation and deciding to pull the pants down the rest of the way, until he had full access to Comic’s sweet privates. The bone looked so untouched, so innocent, though Sans  _ knew _ he’s fucked him before, Sans  _ knew _ that even if this was Comic’s first time, it wouldn’t be for his body.

 

But what caught Sans’ eye even more was the lack of bright blue magic formed into something between Comic’s legs. He let his hand run gently over where it was supposed to be, and over the bones of Comic’s pelvis, Sans’ face pressed deeply into the other’s neck as he was leaving kisses and love bites all over it.

 

“can you… can y’ form somethin’ for me, love?” He asked, his voice trying to sound patient, but coming off as desperate and needy.

  
  


The smaller’s hands were holding tightly onto Sans’ arms, being the only one exposed. But he started to panic when he realized Sans was expecting something from him, and maybe a bit embarrassed that he didn’t know what to do. “h-h-how?” He asked weakly, even a little ashamed of himself for failing Sans at a time like this, with Sans asking him to like that, so needy and wanting. But sadly Comic can’t deliver. 

 

At least Comic had some sort of hint, because the nice touches Sans was doing to his pelvis made him want to open up, do something, make his magic go wild and  _ needing _ to do something. Maybe that’s what Sans wanted.

  
  


The hiss Sans’ let out was tight and stressing. He should’ve probably expected something like that, yet… he hadn’t. How  _ did _ he form something? Sans knew they were the same species of monster, he’d just have to explain him what he did himself, but… he didn’t  _ know _ what he did himself. It just came sort of naturally, instinctively, when he got aroused and he let his magic take shape…

 

“jus’... uh… j-just let your magic take over…?” He suggested, a bit helpless himself. But he moved his hand away from Comic’s pelvis in case is touch was too irritating, letting his mate try to discover this kind of magic himself.

  
  


Comic looked down at his pelvis a little helplessly, the nice feeling wasn’t as strong as it was before when Sans was touching him. But Sans knows best and if he thinks he won’t touch him down there then it was better that way. Instead Comic tried to focus on the feeling he felt, what Sans makes him feels, what he himself wants to feel. 

 

He closed his sockets to try and focus, he didn’t know what to form, all he knew is that he wanted to please Sans, that’s all he wanted. And with that thought, that thought alone, he let himself go and give himself to Sans, letting his magic do what it wants to accomplish his need to please his mate.

 

His magic swirled around in his pelvis, taking it’s time to form, having no idea what it’s owner wants. The magic then decided to form a nice little entrance for Sans, the folds already being spread open by the swollen mound. Comic opened his eyes to look down, feeling heat run through his cheeks for some reason before looking at Sans. “i-i-is d-dis r-r-right?” He asked hesitantly, dreading the idea that Sans will say no, that he failed Sans.

  
  


Sans took a sharp breath as he saw the sweet mound between Comic’s legs, bright blue and swollen, glistering slightly with wetness.  _ Fuck _ this looked good.

 

“yea, ‘s perfect, love,” he breathed out as he let his hand travel back between Comic’s legs, fingers quickly finding their way between the folds. They traced him gently, mapping the cute organ, before Sans could feel two fingers prod against the wet entrance. He slipped them in slowly, but maybe not as gently as he could have, his thumb finding the small, sensitive nub to play with it as well.

 

“‘s so good. so perfect.” His mouth was wandering up the other’s neck again, leaving kisses in their wake, first on Comic’s jaw, then the side of his mouth, then his mouth, drawing Comic’s tongue against his own wantonly.

  
  


Comic moaned into the kiss loudly, yelling his name nice and loud. His hands grabbing onto Sans’ shoulders as his back arched, bucking his hips into Sans. “s-sans! o-o-oh m-my lord! ah, sans!” 

 

Sans’ words and admiration for his pussy made Comic feel proud, he pleased his mate! Sans said it was  _ perfect _ ! He loves it! He said it was good! Comic did good! A huge dopey smile forming on his at just the thought of Sans loving what he did this much, so much it sent another wave to his crotch, making it scream Sans’ name. “ _ sans!! _ ”

  
  


Sans groaned with every scream he heard Comic let out, the heat nearing unbearable. “hah… so loud,” he hummed out, but there was only admiration in his voice, loving every single noise he got out of Comic.

 

He slipped his hand out of Comic’s cute hole again, uncaring of the wetness on his fingers as he used the same hand to pull off his own pants, stroking his raging dick a little to spread Comic’s juices on it. Fuck, this was gonna be it. This was gonna happen.

 

He actually growled as he finally managed to lead his cock to Comic’s entrance, pushing it in at a decent pace, in one go, the walls feeling so wet and warm around him. 

 

“ff _ ffuck, _ comic,” he groaned out, his mouth close to the other’s as he was panting. He wasn’t quite moving yet, but was hilted to the damn brim.

  
  


Comic gasped as he was hilted, his spine arching as far as it can go, his legs shaking as they tried to spread out more to give Sans more room to work with. His hands holding Sans’ shoulders tight as he tried to pull him in. Comic whimpered lightly, not out of pain thankfully, but for trying to adjust to being so filled up.

 

He panted heavily when he rested his head against Sans’, looking at his with hazy eye lights, not really seeing anything, not focusing on anything, just staring straight. “i… it f-feels… good sans.” A shiver ran down Comic’s spine when he said Sans’ name, he has no idea why, but he liked it either way.

  
  


Sans groaned in reply, kissing Comic once more, but it was shorter this time, sloppier, leaving a small trail of their mixed saliva from his open mouth once they parted again. “mmhyea?” He asked, voice slightly hoarse as he had trouble forming thoughts or words at all. “tha’s good. y’ feel  _ so great  _ ‘round me, too.”   
  
As if to prove his point he finally began moving his hips, pulling out almost completely, before pushing back in again, a loud groan escaping him as he did.  _ Fuck _ that’s what he needed. What he needed so badly, like a deep, deep ingrained urge he couldn’t fight no longer. He repeated the movement, hips moving to pull out, before pushing back in again. His mouth wandered from Comic’s mouth down again. But this time barely leaving any kisses or licks on his way, a goal set in his mind as he went for the  _ mark,  _ teeth hovering above it, scraping against the bone ever so slightly, as if to match them perfectly with the imprint of his bite.

  
  


Comic now noticed how sensitive the mark was, sending strong bolts of pleasure up his body, the thrusting in his body made him want to turn to putty. Something just felt so good when  _ Sans _ entered him, like Comic was inviting something back home, something welcoming and safe, something  _ good. _ One of his hands let go of Sans, moving so his lower arm was covering his mouth as he looked to the side, his hand into a fist. 

 

He didn’t want to be to loud, but he couldn’t help it, it felt to good, how can he not scream and moan with that amazing cock taking him. Oh, and that amazing mouth that sunk down into his neck, was it bad that he hoped Sans will sink it back into the mark? Or make a new one?

  
  


One of Sans’ hands moved to Comic’s, carefully but firmly pulling it away from his mouth, and he  _ wanted _ to say something,  _ wanted _ to explain himself, but he couldn’t. Not when he was too busy finally digging his small canines back into the mark, deep and strong. He moved one of his hands down Comic’s arched back, holding him close and tight as he began slamming into him at a faster pace now. His teeth never quite let go of the other’s neck, so long as for him to even groan and moan into the bite.

 

In the back of his mind he started to notice a slight resistance whenever he wanted to pull out or slam back in, but that didn’t stop him, so he didn’t deem it his attention.

  
  


Comic on the other hand, did notice. It started with something swelling inside him, Comic’s first thought was something burst and blood was clogging inside Sans’ dick, not letting him pull out. But Comic could only scream in pleasure or moan, his neck was being attacked and his pussy was having the time of it’s life. He was like a rag doll, only be able to take it as he is used, but he liked being used, he liked being used by  _ Sans _ . 

 

It felt so good, he couldn’t really ignore the big bump that pulled at his walls when Sans tried to pull out, but he was enjoying himself  _ a lot _ . His hands lost feeling and it was hard to hold on to the other on top of him, so he just weakly let go, going limp in Sans hold, letting him do whatever he wants to him. And god, how he didn’t mind getting used right now.

 

Every slam was like a bolt of heaven, his body shaking and shivering at the attack from both sides. Comic  _ could not _ stop screaming Sans name, he was chanting it like it was the most important thing in the world, like he was praising a god or rooting for him. It didn’t matter, all that went through Comic’s head was Sans, and him being right there making love to him, Sans breathing harshly on top of him, Sans pounding into him, Sans grunting as he tried to keep his teeth in the bone of his neck. 

 

It all felt wonderful, he never wanted it to end, he never wanted to part from Sans, he was too good, too amazing,  _ his mate _ .

  
  


Comic’s chanting rang so loud in Sans’ skull as he slammed into him, trying to go harder and faster with every passing minute. That alone, the noises, the screaming, brought  _ so much _ gratification to Sans he thought he might just cum from that, would the ever burning heat in his guts not still be very aware.

 

But it still felt so good, sending shivers and waves of pleasure through Sans’ body, his own movements stuttering every once in a while.  _ He _ was doing this to Comic. Was bringing him to let out all those screams of pleasure. And he only shared the pleasure, tenfolded the pleasure, felt it so strongly, so prominent, demanding attention, demanding all of Sans’ focus. But in the end it would always have to share his focus with Comic, Sans’ so fixated on the feeling of him, on every noise, soaking them up like he was starving for them.

 

He felt blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, could taste it on his tongue, but Sans didn’t budge. He knew his magic would seal it up again once he’d pull off the bite, would plaster it with his claiming magic.

 

_ When _ Sans finally budged, it was when he let out a small, distressed yelp. He…

 

He couldn’t pull out anymore.

 

There was something clogging the way for him to pull out. No. There was  _ him _ clogging the way. He had… swollen?

  
  


It hurt when Sans tried to pull out, stretching and pulling at his walls, making him wince and whimper out in pain. He tried to cover up his yelp to not scare or make Sans think he wasn’t enjoying himself, he was, just not right now.

  
  


It didn’t make any sense, but Sans’ mind was hazy and unfocused and he absolutely had been still for too long and quickly began rutting against Comic as much as he could, small movements without actually trying to pull off. His teeth had finally let go of Comic’s neck, but he quickly opted to lick around the wound instead, lick up the blood, whispering quick but soft apologies into him.

  
  


Now this felt better, just Sans rutting against him felt nice, so nice. No more of that pulling that made his walls hurt like someone was trying to rip his insides. He finally found strength in his arms to weakly and shakely wrap around Sans to keep him close. It wasn’t much, but it felt like he was doing a lot. He wasn’t screaming though, already losing his voice after his walls were pulled. But he couldn’t handle not making any sounds, his body not allowing that, so he let out whimpers and gasps, making soundless screams and moans when Sans hit something really good.

  
  


The fact that Comic was still with him, was still holding onto him, letting out small noises of pleasure had Sans feeling so warm.  _ Warm _ not hot, because while he was craving the touch, was loving the noises, he also felt so, so loved.

 

“y’re doin’ so great,” Sans whispered out, his rutting and grinding growing erratic, uneven. He was close, so damn close. “y’re mine.  _ y’re _ mine an’ i’m  _ yours _ an’ i love y’ so da-d-damn-  _ hhah! _ ” 

 

He came with a shout, eyes screwed shut and his body curled tightly, protectively around his mate. The swelling still hasn’t let down and Sans was filling Comic up now, filling him to the brim with his seed, with no place for it to escape.

  
  


Comic made a soundless scream before he too, came. His walls pressing the cock tight, spazzing out as pleasure hit him like a strong wave. He grew still, but his body was still twitching and spazzing out under Sans, his body limp with his arms and legs lifelessly to his side. His head was in the clouds, but he can still feel the pressure in his lower regions, feeling full and bloated. 

 

“s-sans…?” Comic whispered when he caught his breath and found his voice to speak. He still felt that big bump inside him, and the cum that shot into him felt so good stretching him out like that with the cock still inside, moving inside him with every twitch and shake. He felt like a water sack, but it felt hot and steamy and  _ so  _ personal.

  
  


“...yeah?” Sans asked, his voice heavy between the panting. He was lying on top of Comic, almost limp, but feeling the smaller one’s every twitch. One of his hands was ever so slightly stroking Comic’s arm, reminding him Sans was  _ here _ and that Comic was  _ loved, _ so loved and he wanted to only be with him.

  
  


One of Comic’s hands shakely went up to rest on Sans’ butt, it was more of a indication to what he wanted to ask about. “‘r-re…. ya ‘urt?” He was mostly asking about the bump, and if he was hurt but ignored it till now because sex was amazing and felt really good.

  
  


Sans hummed slightly, the hand on his butt sending tiny waves of leftover pleasure through him. He nestled himself against Comic, his face buried into the other’s neck.

 

“...don’ think so,” he finally replied. “‘t… doesn’t hurt, but… can’t, uh… c-can’t pull out…”

  
  


“o-oh.” Comic whispered, his sockets widening a little bit. “‘re we…. s-stuck?” His other arm going around Sans’ back to keep him close, while his face nuzzled into Sans head for comfort, feeling safe with Sans close, yet also vulnerable out in the open like this.


	28. once a protective brother, always a protective brother

Russ decided to part with the elementals for a bit to have a better chance of catching something without the crackling of fire. He was crouched with a bow and arrow in his hand, aiming at the deer that had it’s head down to eat some grass. Unfortunately there was noises nearby that caught the deers attention and run away, Russ sighed in defeat as he got back up. He heard the noises too, it sounding like something repeatedly hitting something, but what really sold it was the whimpers and gasps and moans. And it came from someone familiar, so Russ creeped up to what the noises came from, only to gasp and choke on his spit.

 

There was his brother, being taken and dominated by the other skeleton monster. He saw Sans’ teeth in his brother’s neck, a wave of protectiveness and offence washed over him, but he shushed it. Comic looked like he was having the time of his life, being rutted on and used like a doll. He saw blood trailing from Comic’s neck, but Sans just licked it all up like it was heaven.

 

He didn’t like his own baby brother being used and taken over like this, he was the older brother, he should be the one protecting him from this. But this happened when they were demons, he had no control over what happened then, and he was sure his demon self would feel the same about their brother enough to stop this if Sans was bad.

 

Still didn’t mean he liked it, suddenly waking up and his brother having somebody all over him. Sans was so lucky that his brother accepted him, but so help him if he decides to spit on that trust and throw it to the ground.

 

He will be watching, he always will. For now he would give them the privacy they need, his brother will die if he seeing his brother finding him like that. He would protect the area from any animals wanting to take advantage of their state.

 

-

 

“uff, uh…” Sans tried again, carefully and gently to pull out, but they were still stuck together. “sh-shit i’m… ‘m sorry,  _ fuck… _ ” There was a part of Sans, a big, strong one, that wanted to enjoy this. Wanted to enjoy still being connected to his mate, wanted to enjoy the way his seed was trapped inside his mate, filling him up. He didn’t want to pull out and he didn’t want to get off Comic or move to keep going with their day, so this situation should’ve come just perfectly…

 

But the fact that he  _ couldn’t _ pull out, that he wasn’t just deciding to stay this way but was  _ stuck _ was worrying him. Was especially worrying him because oh god, he’s done this to  _ Comic! _ Yea,  _ Sans _ didn’t mind staying, but what if Comic did? What if he got uncomfortable? Was he in pain?

  
  


“n-no, no! it’ fine! i-i-i-i w-w-wa-was j-j-ju-just w-w-w-worr- ied y-ya ‘ere ‘u-u-urt!” Comic stuttered and shook under Sans in a almost panic like state, he tried to weakly pull Sans into a comforting hug, rubbing his back softly and ever so slowly, mostly due to Comic not having much energy at all. “b-b-but….” Comic wanted to continue, but he felt like he was going to make everything worse if he points out they were in the open like this. Will they be safe here? Are there any predators around here? What would happen if one came and they were still stuck like this, with no energy?

  
  


Sans returned the hug immediately, almost feeling like he needed it more than Sans did. “are… are you?” He asked concerned. He had pretty much lost himself while fucking into Comic - the thought of it sending a small shiver down Sans’ spine again - and he was scared he might’ve gone too far. He noticed now that the little resistance Sans had ignored later was this swelling clogging them up, and oh god, if it was big enough to get them stuck, mustn’t it have hurt when Sans had forced it in and out of the skeleton anyways?

  
  


“‘m o-o-okay.” Comic answered quietly, pulling Sans so close until his face was right next to his. “j-j-j-just d-d-don’ p-p-pu-ll o-out!” Once he uttered that out his face got even more blue, panicking over what he just said. “n-n-not l-l-lik-e y-ya ‘r-r-e b-bad! i-i-i-i l-l-like it! j-j-just i-i-it ‘urts w-w-when y-ya try t-ta p-p-pu-ll-ll out, ‘nd w-w-we o-out i-in d-da o-open wh-wh-where s-s-some-methi-ing c-can urt u-us!”

 

Comic almost whined at the last part, “n-n-not d-dat y-yer not s-s-strong! i-i-i d-d-didn’ m-me-ean dat! ugh! p-p-ple-ease i-ig-nore m-m-me!” He gave up, pulling his hands up to cover his face in embarrassment. 

  
  


Sans’ mind was reeling a little, already fuzzy from his own worries as well as exhaustion, and Comic’s panicked stuttering didn’t exactly make it a lot easier. But he eventually shushed him quietly, his face going close to the side of Comic’s, giving him soft kisses.

  
“‘s ok,” he assured him. “y’re fine, don’ worry. y’re good. ‘m not gonna pull out.” Yet, at least. He hoped there was some way to get the swelling down  _ eventually, _ because as much as  _ Sans _ didn’t mind being together with him like this, he’d have to pull out  _ eventually. _

 

“‘ve gotcha,” Sans said quietly, before slamming his palm to the ground, dark magic seeping through ground and growing into a circle of spikes around them.

 

Okay, so maybe using his magic, his  _ unstable and destructive _ magic, when they were in a state as vulnerable as this was a bad idea, let alone without his staff to guide it. But it had felt right in the moment, a protective surge leading his movements, like his magic  _ wanted _ to cover them this way. And it… had worked out fine, so…

  
  


Comic gasped at the spikes, admiring it with wide eyelights. “y-yer so strong….” he said in wonder, looking around himself like he witnessed something magical and amazing, “wow…” he whispered.

 

His arms subconsciously pulled Sans closer, relaxing into him and just staring in wonder around him. He almost held Sans like a teddy bear, his legs lightly around his waist to keep his hips pressed up to him.

  
  


Sans flushed a little, not having expected the kind of compliment and neither being used to it. His laugh was soft and abashed as he glanced anywhere but at Comic, but he still leaned into the tight hold of him, returning it as best as he could.

 

“it’s, uh… ‘s nothin’... really…,” he muttered out, voice hesitant. “what was powerful was… your plant growth spell… ‘t was  _ incredible. _ ” And he wasn’t just saying it out of flattery.

 

Sans’ magic happened by accident, happened out of his control, but when Comic had casted that spell he seemed to be really leading it, guiding it with his power, controlling the plants, the forces of life empowering them.

 

_ That _ was strong.

  
  


“haha! i had no idea wha i was doin’ den!” Comic laughed out loud, hiding his face into Sans neck to avoid facing Sans. To tell him the truth. “p-plants ‘re ta hard ta control. i just told dem wha i want ‘nd gave dem da power ta grow. i c-can’ control life.”

 

Yeah it was risky giving the village a fickle gift, but it turned out okay in the end so Comic wasn’t complaining.

  
  


Sans snorted surprised, glancing at Comic from the corner of his eyes. “really?” He asked, kind of not entirely believing it, but he knew Comic wouldn’t lie to him. He was laughing, though, nuzzling into the other skeleton.

 

“y’ seemed so sure of yourself back there,” he commented. “really. could’a’ve sworn y’ practiced this spell for  _ years. _ i… never really know wha’ i’m doin’ myself, too, though.”

  
  


“sshhh!” Comic giggled, “i hav’, pretending ya know does wonders, even if ya practised it fer years, it might never come out right! all dat’ left is work with wha ya got. it’ all ‘bout confidence ‘nd belief, ya hav’ dat, ya can do it.”

  
  


Sans was laughing gently into Comic’s neck, feeling comfortable and warm close to his mate. Maybe he should try to just pretend knowing what he was doing a bit more often. If Comic said it worked? He might as well give it a shot.

 

Sans smiled as he hummed into him. “...thank y’,” he muttered out. “for bein’ with me, bein’ my mate. i’m… really glad.” He really did love this monster.

 

-

 

The swelling actually did go down. After something between an hour or two, and the sun was already starting to set. Sans gently pulled out of the smaller skeleton, feeling small waves follow him out of the abused hole, and for a short moment Sans just sat there, watching it seep out of him, painting Comic with Sans’ semen.

 

It was an oddly eye catching sight, a sight that made Sans feel proud that made Sans adore his mate even more.  _ He’s _ filled him up with that, and Comic had carried it inside him this whole time, not complaining once…

  
  


Comic stayed where he was, not only because he was tired and didn’t want to move, but because Sans was enjoying himself by just watching him, so he stood still. After a few moments did he notice Sans was actually looking at his seed escape him, now that sent a shiver down his spine. 

 

After finally being able to feel his legs work, he gently sat up, wincing and quickly moving away from sitting on his butt. He used Sans as support to get up on his two feet, grabbing his shorts before so he didn’t have to bend down to get it later. But it did give him trouble to put it on, asking for help from Sans in the end.

 

“can we find a place ta clean up? ...please?” Comic asked a bit timidly, not wanting to sound needy or be a bother to him.

  
  


Sans made a small, confused noise at the request at first, gently helping Comic to put on his pants, before putting on his own as well as his loose cloak again. But after a little bit he realized just how sticky he felt between his legs, and  _ especially  _ how sticky Comic must feel, what, with how much of Sans’ seed had been juicing out of him just now… He didn’t entirely like the idea of Comic washing off his smell already, but… he knew it’d stick to him for longer than just one washing, it’d just wouldn’t be as intense anymore. And he didn’t want his mate to be uncomfortable.

 

“sure! yea, ‘course,” Sans told him quickly. He picked up his staff as well as Comic’s, handing it to his mate and letting the spikes around them sink back into the ground. “think there was a stream that way,” he mused, pointing into the direction he remembered having heard water from.

  
  


Comic held onto Sans tightly as he led the way, a limp to his step as he walked.

 

-

 

It didn’t take that long to clean up, nor find their way back to camp. They were met with some worried monsters but they quickly explained they just had alone time.

 

Lunch was filled with chatter, Papyrus doing most of it, oddly enough Russ was pretty quiet, but he stared holes into Sans when no one was looking. Soon it was time to head to bed, now that the brothers were better and would be able to travel, they decided to head to bed early. 

 

Comic opened his arms for Sans when he got close to the bed, glancing over to his father’s bed to see Russ staring at Sans a little aggressively. What happened to him?

  
  


Sans had noticed Russ staring holes into him ever since they got back, had been ignoring it in favor of giving Comic the attention instead. He was feeling good, being close to his mate, his smell all over him fresh and strong. And so was Comic’s smell, all over his own, both marking each other as their mates, as theirs.

 

He pulled Comic into his arms and to his bed when he had opened his arms for Sans, but absolutely didn’t miss the aggressive stare Russ threw him. He didn’t know just  _ what _ was up with that guy, but it wasn’t hard to figure out it had to do with him and Comic. So he had to learn to fucking deal with it.

 

Comic was his mate, there was nothing Russ could do to take him from him, and Sans decided to let him know, holding Comic close enough so his skull was on Sans’ shoulder, unable to see the shiteating grin he threw Russ as he placed a firm hand on Comic’s butt, giving it a good squeeze.

  
  


Comic flinched hard as he gasped, curling up on Sans like he was a lifeline, a lifeline you cuddled up to. 

 

Russ on the other hand, glared daggers at Sans, his face full of outrage. His hands went to fists, holding the sheets like he was trying to squeeze the life out of them. His father sleeping completely unaware of his sons rage.

  
  


Sans held Comic close like he was a treasured prize he’s just won. His hand didn’t leave the other’s butt as he pulled him into the bed with him, leaving small but many kisses over Comic, every so often letting his eyes glance over to Russ, making sure he saw, making sure he saw it when Sans pulled at Comic’s shirt a little, revealing the shoulder with the now freshened mark on it, giving it soft kisses.

  
  


Russ looked like he was ready to get up and go over there, sitting up and tense. Comic squirming under Sans’ touch, but he turned his head and moved it away enough to look Sans in the face, planting a big kiss on his mouth out of nowhere. But it ended fast, Comic quickly hiding his face back into Sans shoulder, but that wasn’t what was surprising. Comic actually kissed Sans nice and hard, with no prompt or encouragement, all on his own.

  
  


And it left Sans’ face bright blue, his eyes wide as he looked at Comic in awe. Screw getting on Russ’ nerves, Sans just wanted to squeal into his mate’s neck, the kisses he left now interrupted by small giggles and a big smile.

 

He hadn’t expected Comic to actually kiss him like that, let alone so out of nowhere, and it made him feel honored and blessed.

  
  


Russ was left speechless, he did lean back into his spot on the bed, but he watched Comic giggle almost soundlessly at Sans’ reaction. “too much?” He heard his brother whisper ever so softly.

 

  
“no! no,” Sans assured him quietly as he giggled into Comic’s neck. “in fact, wouldn’ mind ya doin’ it again…” He glanced at Comic with big, bright eyes, his fingers ever so gently tapping at his own teeth.

 

He didn’t actually expect Comic to do anything he wouldn’t absolutely want to do, though he wouldn’t be opposed to another kiss.

  
  


Comic’s face went flush blue, shaking slightly, he nodded, but he seemed to have trouble now. With now Sans expecting and knowing what Comic wanted to do, he lost all his confidence he barely had. After a few moments of fighting for courage, Comic slowly moved to Sans’ teeth, and pressed his teeth to his. It wasn’t as hard as the last kiss, but it was a little bit longer, breaking the kiss and looking away to not see Sans’ reaction.

  
  


Sans’ hand had moved over to Comic’s cheek during the kiss, gentle and careful, stroking over it as Comic pulled off again. Sans was at least as blue as Comic was, if not even more, giggling giddily.

 

Until he heard a small groan from his father’s and Papyrus’ shared bed.

 

“YOU’RE BEING LOOUUUD,” Papyrus complained, his voice slurred as if he was still half asleep. “I’S LAAATEEE.”

 

Sans snorted surprised, but relaxed more into the bed, snuggling close to Comic. “sorry paps,” he whispered out quietly.

  
  


Comic noticed Russ leaning on the wall, almost sitting. He waved at him and mouthed a ‘good night’ before relaxing himself into the bed, cuddling up to Sans with a big smile on his face.


	29. letting your demons out

Grillby was the first one to wake up. They were going to leave to get back to the southern kingdom today. Most of their things were already packed and in the carriage, but Grillby still collected some small things together to bring into the carriage, before starting a campfire to prepare their food before the travels.

  
They still had some leftover deer which he decided to heat up over the fire. He only looked up when he heard someone exiting the hut, oddly disappointed when he found it to be Papyrus.

  
“GOOD MORNING, GRILLBY!!!” He chirped happily, Grillby returning it slightly less excited.

 

“Morning Papyrus,” he said, giving the young skeleton a nod.

 

He wasn’t sure why he was so disappointed seeing him.

 

No… he was. He had been oddly hoping to see Comic or Sans leaving the hut, accompanying him a little. He… knew they were together, every single moment they spent together only making it more and more clearer. And while he maybe… didn’t think there was any hope for  _ him _ to have a place in that, he… still oddly found himself craving for it.

  
  


Soon Russ exited the hut with a tired look, yawning as he sat on the chopped off log. “GOOD MORNING EVERYONE.” He stared at the fire that was slowly cooking up the meat over it. “HOW IS EVERYONE?”

  
  


“EXCITED!!!” Papyrus told Russ without hesitation. He was bending into the carriage to get his water pouch, but quickly joined the other two monsters, sitting between Grillby and Russ on the ground. “WE’RE FINALLY HEADING HOME! YOU’LL GET TO SEE OUR HOME!!!” The last part was directed more at Russ than Grillby, Papyrus excitedly looking towards Russ to catch his reaction.

  
  


Russ was having a hard time listening to Papyrus, his head was pounding, it felt like two blades trying to come out of his skull, his shoulder blades feels sore, and his tailbone feels like it was manhandled. His fingers and toes feels super weird too, his teeth felt like they were pulled and prodded with.

 

All around he felt terrible, but his head was killing him the most. “S...SOUNDS… GREAT.”

  
  


“IS… EVERYTHING ALRIGHT???” Papyrus asked a little worried. There was an odd tone in his voice, like he was sick or in pain. Grillby caught up on it, too, his eyes narrowing concerned.

 

“...Do you need to lie down?” He asked the skeleton. “Did you… get hurt yesterday?” He knew he shouldn’t have let them split up. It was just safer in groups or couples, even if Grillby’s and Hearth’s flames would disrupt the hunt. They could’ve found a way, should’ve for the skeleton’s safety…

  
  


“NO…. I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON…. EVERYTHING HURTS….” Russ no longer looked tired, he looked exhausted. Shaking and leaning on one side with his hand. “WA...TER?”

  
  


“Y...YES!!! OF COURSE!!!” Papyrus reacted quickly, picking up his water pouch and quickly handing it to Russ. He was staying close, worried the other might not be able to hold his own weight any moment, so he could catch and support him in the case.

 

“GRILLBY, CAN YOU GET DAD AND ASTER???” He asked, glancing towards the elemental. Grillby looked up surprised, but nodded, placing the half-cooked deer down to rush into the hut.

  
  


Russ was breathing heavily, needing Papyrus’ help to hold up the pouch to his teeth, he could barely take a few sips before heaving over. Nothing coming out but dry heaving. “H...UURTSSS...”

  
  


Not long after he said that, Comic woke up panting, struggling to wiggle out of Sans’ hold to sit up. He just barely noticed Aster and Gaster hurrying out of bed with Grillby leading, Hearth stumbling right after them, panicked.

  
  


Sans yelped surprised when the monster next to him suddenly moved this much, eyes wide and panicked, unfocused. He tried to find the source of the distress, the disruption, but only saw Comic panting and looking like he was in pain.

 

“wha- w...what’s wrong!?” Sans asked startled and confused.

  
  


“i…. i don’ know…” Comic struggled to say, breathing heavily. Leaning into Sans and holding him tight, he whimpered as he lost control of his body, his voice weak and shaky as he looked into Sans eye lights, his own going out right after he uttered two last words.

 

“‘m… scared..”

 

-

 

Russ was bent over on his hands and knees, wheezing and trying to not tilt over and lose the little strength he had. He barely noticed Aster holding him on one side, putting the back of his hand on his forehead and asking what he felt, what was wrong, what he needed. 

 

But Russ couldn’t answer him, his voice was lost, like it left the moment the pain turned unbearable. Sadly it got worse, his legs felt like they were being bent every which way, hurting like someone was stretching it and molding it to their pleasure. 

 

When that pain hit him, Russ screamed as loud as he could. Every bone in his body bending and sending him to hell and back.

 

It felt like his bones was molding themselves, like he was a dolly that was being replaced of it’s stuffing.

 

Aster gasped right next to him, watching the bones  _ change shape _ . His breath got caught in his throat when a tail and wings were starting to break free, horns growing from his head like daisies. Russ was scream in agony, the worst scream you can ever hear someone scream, like they were dying, like they were being cut open and getting their insides moved around.

 

To his horror, another scream pierced the air from the hut, making his soul drop.

 

-

 

Sans was holding onto Comic tightly and terrified as he had to watch him painfully deform in horror. He felt so helpless, he felt so scared, the piercing scream Comic let out against him shaking Sans to his core.

 

He had to do  _ something! _ He had to help him somehow, had to save him, but all Sans could do was cry against him as he held him close, feeling the monster in his arm  _ change. _ And he knew what was happening, the second Sans noticed him changing in statue, he  _ knew _ what was going on, but why did it have to be so  _ painful _ for Comic?   
  
“ _ i’m sorry! _ ” Sans cried out against him. “ _ ‘m sorry! _ it’ll be ok, you’ll be ok! it’s over soon!”

  
  


The pained cry started to turn into a animalistic roar, wings beating harshly while his boney tail start to swipe at each direction. The horns looked  _ painful  _ coming out of his skull, like they were breaking through, his teeth were the same, changing on their own and becoming a lot more sharper. His back legs bending ever so painfully into a more animal like legs.

 

Death’s claws dug into Sans’ shoulders as he tried to take control of himself. Looking up at the ceiling as his body changed, he didn’t stop his madding roar, but it was as piercing and loud as Comic’s scream. Only a lot more angier, and all the more violent. 

 

The same can be said with the roar from outside the hut…

 

-

 

“HE’S CHANGING BACK!!!” Papyrus cried out, still holding onto the pained monster, but he was glancing up at Gaster and Aster. “YOU HAVE TO HELP HIM! DO SOMETHING!!!”

 

But Gaster found himself clueless, staring down at Russ in shock. “I… I don’t understand…” The spell wasn’t supposed to reverse. Wasn’t supposed to run out! It was something final, something that could only be broken if Comic and Russ were to turn to demons again on their own account, a new source of hatred consuming them.

 

But that obviously wasn’t what was going on, he didn’t  _ understand _ , but now they were in pain because of  _ him, _ because he’s messed something up.

 

“How do we help him?” Grillby asked, his tone firm and expecting, looking towards Gaster as well, the warlock feeling cornered, trapped like prey.

 

“I don’t know…,” he said, his voice betraying his own shock. “I… I don’t know… this… shouldn’t be happening…”

 

Aster was hyperventilating as he saw with his own eyes his own son turn into a demon, in the most painful way. All he wanted was to take all the pain Russ and Comic were having….

 

Comic!

 

A string of loud crashes were heard in the hut, before Death rammed into the door, breaking it into two. He huffed at them, a crazed look into him before looking around. Once he realized what this place was, he roared in anger, making Reaper stand up. 

 

Reaper also looked around, outraged at this cursed place looking so nice.

 

They both gave each other a look before they both pounced, breaking the huts and tearing apart the plants. Leaving no room for any plant or old wood spared. Every single hut came crashing down, the green grass getting swiped and destroyed. 

 

Hearth could only stare in shock and horror, all of Russ’ and Comic’s love was ruined. All of Comic’s gift was turned to nothing, it was being torn into a worse state than they found this place in.

 

He heard Aster choke up right next to him on the ground, but he couldn’t comfort him, he couldn’t move, he was frozen.

  
  


Sans was storming out of the hut after Death, trying to reach for him, call out for him, but the demon was too fast and Sans felt a pit of pain deep deep in his guts. Seeing Death rampage through the town, destroy every hut and plantlife, everything good, had Sans feeling like he  _ betrayed _ his mate. Betrayed Death by letting Comic give a peaceful ending to the people that had chased them out, had turned them to  _ this, _ and betraying Comic by letting Death destroy it again, letting him disrespect and rampage on the memorials of the people that they had grown up with, had been their family.

 

And he was so goddamn  _ sorry. _ He was on the ground, bent over with his face to the floor, arms covering the space left and right to it, shielding him from the world around him. He didn’t  _ want _ to see the destruction. Didn’t  _ want  _ to see the pain.

 

Hearing it was bad enough.

  
  


Death and Reaper moved to the graves quickly after they were done with the town, throwing dirt around to get to the bones under. Once they got a few, they stomped and tore at it until it was little pieces. The sticks and plants used as a tombstone was torn to bits, one wouldn’t be able to tell they used to be art.

 

Aster couldn’t stop choking up when he wanted to call out, tears streaming down his sockets as his son’s work was destroyed right before him. His friends and families graves disturbed by the ones who killed them.

 

His arm was reached out to them, shaking and weak, trying to reach out, but his body didn’t have any energy to lift him off his knees.

 

He only watched until everything was turned to nothing, the only thing spared was the hut they all lived in for the past few days.

 

Death looked up from the shattered bones under his feet, at his mate he felt he hasn’t seen for a long while. He flew straight to him, grabbing him and lifting him off the ground into the air. His open mouth was breathing heavily into Sans face as he flapped them higher, looking at Sans with that oh so familiar crazed dead sockets.

 

“ssaa...nnss.” His voice was back to it’s demonic self, his tail curling around one of Sans’ legs. He duly noted his demon brother going after Papyrus, also lifting him up into the air.

  
  


Sans was sniffling as he put his arms around Death, face buried into his chest. He didn’t even care right now that he was being carried away, that he didn’t know where to or why. He trusted Death anyways, trusted his mate, but more importantly still felt  _ so bad. _

 

“‘m sorry,” he choked out, the words almost broken by small sobs. “i- i’m s-sorry i just… a-and you w-went through a-a-all this pain…”

  
  


Death may have no idea what Sans was talking about but his mate was crying and sad and clearly upset. So he did what he knew to do, lick at Sans face, lick at it until Sans was wearing a mask of his saliva, until the tears stopped, until he heard Sans make any other noise that isn’t sad.

 

He flew over the forest, glancing every one in a while to see his brother following with Papyrus in his arms. Heading straight to their real home. 

 

The cave.

 

Their first cave.

  
  


Papyrus was a lot more startled than Sans was by what was happening, but he didn’t struggle when Reaper carried him away. He glanced after where he could once see the others, though, his hands digging a little into Reaper’s clothes as he tried to glance past him to find them again. But they were already too far away…

 

“YOU FORGOT… WE LEFT THE OTHERS BEHIND!” Papyrus noted, trying not to sound like he was complaining, but there was a hint of panic in his voice. “THEY WILL BE WORRIED ABOUT US!”

  
  


Reaper only roared in reply, ignoring Papyrus and just carried him in a cave, sitting next to Death at the end of the cage.

 

Death was flushed pressed into Sans, Sans forced to lay on his back while Death laid on top of him, licking at his face. He chirped to get Sans in a better mood, cooing at the skeleton when that didn’t work. “sssnnnaa...a.aaasss.” Death tried.

  
  


Sans knew what Death was doing, knew what he was trying, and he let out a small, blubbery chuckle. Though his tone was still kind of glum, still feeling the shock of what he watched Comic go through, of Death’s reaction to the change of the village, very deeply and strongly.

 

“‘s ok,” he said anyways, trying to shoot Death his best smile. He put an arm around him, holding the demon on top of him close. “‘s ok. ‘m ok. are… are you…?”

  
  


Death chirped, already relaxing onto the skeleton and huffing into his face, watching Sans like he was some wonder. His chin was resting on Sans’ rib cage, while his whole body lay flat on the skeleton.

 

Unlike Death, who trapped his victim, Reaper let his roam as Papyrus pleased. The only time Reaper got up was when Papyrus tried to leave, or got to far from him, huffing at the skeleton like he was scolding him. Gently pushing him back with his head.

  
  


Papyrus had eventually just decided to settle, sitting with his back to Reaper’s side, petting his skull a little. The others would… they’d know they were safe, right? And they would go back to them  _ eventually… _

 

Plus… he…  _ had _ missed Reaper. He knew Russ was basically him, but… without Russ remembering anything, it just wasn’t the same. And it was selfish to having wanted Reaper back, knowing that he was better off as a monster than a demon. But sometimes people just were a little selfish. And sometimes Papyrus was one of those people.

 

“IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN!” He finally chirped after a bit, having calmed down more than before. He still was worried the others would be worried, but they should  _ know _ he was safe with the demons.

 

Sans on the other hand was still slowly processing everything. But he had both arms around Death now, one hand ever so gently stroking from Death’s skull to his shoulder blades. He’s missed Death, too. Possibly not as much as Papyrus had missed Reaper, because Sans has never  _ lost _ him. He’s still had Comic, still had this different side of Death, but… he couldn’t deny he had missed his demon version, too.

 

Speaking of his different side…

 

“do you… remember anythin’...?” Sans asked curiously, his voice quiet, as if speaking it out loud would get him in trouble. Papyrus still heard, though, and he looked up, curious about the answer himself.

  
  


“...” Death at first didn’t say anything, staring holes into Sans with his wide black hole sockets. “somethin’ new….. yes….” His tone was grave and harsh, like the thought made him want to lash out and hurt something.

 

“‘member da ‘urtin’, den da attack, den we grew…..” He lifted up his paw to look at his sharp claws, playing with them slightly. 

 

“ME TOO, ME TOO.” Reaper chirped in, lifting his head up to look at his brother, “HUNGRY, THEN BAD FACES, THEN BLOOD AND SCREAMS.”

 

Death looked at his brother surprised, but he crooned in delight at finding out he wasn’t the only one to gain some memories they previously didn’t have.

  
  


Sans eyes were wide as he listened to them, not entirely having expected them to remember… this. Papyrus seemed to lean himself into Reaper more, petting him even more, comforting. And Sans, too, but in form of hugging Death a little closer.

 

They didn’t  _ seem _ very upset about their newfound memories, but… It still couldn’t be something beautiful to remember, and Sans hummed quietly, leaving soft kisses on his mate’s skull.

 

“‘m sorry, love…,” he muttered softly.

  
  


Death gave Sans a small lick on his cheek, his head tilted to the side as he watched Sans.


	30. demon betrayal

Gaster was pacing in circles ever since he had to watch the demons take his sons, not quietly muttering to himself about how this  _ shouldn’t have happened, _ and  _ what did they do wrong, _ where had they made their miscalculation?  _ Why _ had they left, with Sans and Papyrus with them nonetheless.

 

Was it revenge? For failing them? For making them go through this evidently painful transformation? Or were they just afraid and startled and Sans and Papyrus were the ones they were closest to for them to flee with?

  
  


“Oh come on! Aster, Gaster! You both have to pull yourselves together, they went this way so we should follow, let’s go!” Hearth yelled, waving them to follow as he started to run to the forest, soon picking up speed as he charged into the forest.

 

Aster looked up from his panic attack, or the aftermath of it, to watch Hearth run after them. Getting up on his shaky legs and using his staff as support before following him with a stumble to his step, tears never quite stopping.

  
  


“Hearth you idiot, we have  _ horses! _ ” Grillby called after his brother, who decided to run after two  _ flying _ demons by foot. But Hearth was already too far away, so he simply groaned, going towards the carriage to untie the horses in a rush, getting onto one.

 

He noticed Gaster watching him curious and handed him two of the horse reins, which The Sorcerer of The South accepted silently. Both of them followed after Aster and Hearth now, each on a horse, while leading another by their side, until they caught up with them after a few minutes.

 

“Get onto the horses,” Grillby said, his voice gentle, but hurrying.

  
  


Aster jumped onto his trusty horse Gerald and started to gallop into the forest, leaning his body down to press into the horse’s back to avoid getting stuck on something and being pulled off his Gerald.

 

Hearth was much the same, grabbing the saddle before pulling himself up onto the seat, he kicked the side of the animal and yelled a short command to make him go faster. They all raced in the direction of where the demons have flown, all having a serious focused expression.

  
  


Gaster regretted not keeping his sample of the demons magic from before they had actually found them. The marks and scarred trees they spotted along their way were all too old to be still used to track them out, and they had to rely solely on their luck and senses.

 

It was only after a while that Grillby stopped his horse, all of them having slowed to a trot after they lost any trace of where to go next and had to resort to searching. “Look,” he said, glancing towards the entrance of a cave. 

 

Gaster came to a halt as well, turning his horse to glance at where Grillby was looking. “Do you… think they’re in there?”

 

“I don’t know,” Grillby admitted. “But it’s a good place to hide and camp.”

  
  


They tied the horses at the entrance then proceeded to walk in slowly, the light from both elementals making them able to see a few feet in front of them. They walked what seemed like five minutes, before they saw piles of bones in big piles at the corners of the dead end. 

 

There Death lifted his head up in alert, but when he saw it was just the other travel buddies he calmed down. Jumping off Sans to dash over to Grillby, making silly animal like noises before glomping the fire elemental, huffing in excitement and yiping to get Grillby’s attention.

 

Hearth furrowed his brows and lifted his arms in the air, “Oh come on, now you’re just messing with me!” He said annoyed, having to watch the demon’s tail wrap around one of Grillby’s legs and his wings flapping excitedly, not able to sit still in his brother’s hold. 

  
  


Grillby’s eyes widened surprised, but he held Death close and securely. “It’s… It’s good to see you too,” he uttered out a bit taken aback, but definitely not displeased as he finally got to hold Death again.

 

Papyrus looked up from his spot against Reaper with bright excited eyes, but didn’t leave the tall demon’s side. “YOU FOUND US!!!” He cheered excitedly, though.

  
  


“Yeah, we did.” Hearth said bitterly. Ignoring Aster running past him to tackle the tall demon, planning to hug the daylights out of Death later when he is free. The bigger demon yelped as Aster smashed into him, making him turn from his stomach to his side. It was almost comical at how surprised and shocked Reaper was.

  
  


When Reaper moved that suddenly, Papyrus let out a small scream, losing his support on Reaper. But he quickly got himself up again, giving the big demon a few more pets, before going up to his brother and with Sans to Gaster.

 

“Are you okay?” Gaster asked, his voice hushed and hurried as he collected both of his son’s up in a hug.

 

“no, priest stole my mate,” Sans grumbled a bit, and the reply had come so out of nowhere, so unexpected to Gaster, who was worrying for all of them, struggling and thinking and so stressed and concerned this whole time that he was taken aback. And then laughed.

 

Not loudly or a lot, but he still laughed, relief washing over him.

 

“DON’T WORRY!!! DEATH AND REAPER WOULD HAVE PROTECTED US TOO IF ANYTHING WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!!!” Papyrus assured him and Gaster nodded with a smile. He didn’t doubt they would have.

  
  


But Sans’ comment was loud enough for Death to hear, making the demon wiggle in Grillby’s grasp to reach out for Sans, like he want him to pick him up to make up for leaving him. Making little sounds to get his attention, but those sounds didn’t just get Sans’ attention, soon after Aster came from out of nowhere and whisked Death away. Spinning him around as he hugged him tight, getting a yelp out of the demon.

  
  


“ _ No! _ ” Grillby gasped at the lack of demon in his arm, reaching out for Death, before he quite realized what he was doing and quickly pulled his arms back again. He took a step back until he was next to his brother, his face abashed at his own behavior, hoping and praying that no one had noticed this small moment.

 

Except Sans was about to get Death as well when it happened, his eyes already having been focused on him, and by that also on Grillby. He  _ saw. _ And he felt a flash of anger course through him, which he tried to suppress for the time being to glare down at the ground.

 

Maybe he misunderstood. Grillby knew Death was Sans’ mate. And he better knew that meant for him to keep his damn hands to himself.

  
  


And Sans wasn’t the only one who saw, who  _ heard _ Grillby. Hearth. Hearth was right there, jealous of his own brother, but now realizing his brother must have been jealous too, but at Sans and Death. Oof. Death sure has a few people pining for him, and he thinks he can see the bigger demon behind them glare at them all.

 

Aster completely oblivious to all of it, cuddling up to his younger son and cooing at him that he loved him in every form, that this changes nothing. Poor Death was being squished by the strong hold, but oddly enough, he didn’t complain other than some shifting to make the pressure easier.

  
  


Once he noticed Reaper free, Papyrus ran up to the demon again, giving him a big hug, followed up by gentle pets. But he glanced at him worried once he noticed him glaring.

 

“IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT???” He asked concerned. “YOU’RE LOOKING A LITTLE GROUCHY!”

  
  


Reaper just huffed before pulling the skeleton onto his back, already passing Sans and Grillby on the way, giving both a warning look before exiting the cave. Aster following his other son after he noticed him pass by, scurrying after him with a whining Death on his shoulder trying to reach for Sans, but failing miserably. 

  
  


Sans tried to reach for Death as well, but was held back by Gaster’s hand on his shoulder, his father glancing down at him. “Let Aster have this. He’s still his son.”   
  
But his  _ son _ was also Sans’  _ mate _ and calling out for him, so when the two of them started following them, Sans did so, pouting with his arms crossed. 

 

Grillby and Hearth were the last ones to follow up, the former hurrying to the front until he was close to Aster and Reaper. “...Where are we going?” He asked a bit surprised and confused.

  
  


Aster looked at him surprised, completely in his world that he forgot about everything else. He looked up at Grillby with a clueless expression. “What do you mean?”

 

Death had his cheek pressed to Aster’s shoulder, miffed that he was unable to get to Sans without violence. He looked at Grillby and stuck the tip of his tongue out at him, his face had no tale of emotion, just a small little tongue peeking out to tease at the flame for some unknown reason.

  
  


And Grillby almost hadn’t caught it either. Being distracted trying to figure out where they were going, what their current plan was, he almost hadn’t seen it.

 

But when he did, from the corner of his eye, the cute little tongue peeking out at him, he froze up… flustered? No, confused. He settled for confused, and he was glancing left and right and behind him to spot Sans somewhere, but Sans was still hanging back a little with Gaster. Until they passed Grillby, too, because he had been standing still.

  
  


Grillby might be confused, but now Aster was even more, stopping in his steps to look back at Grillby confused and a little worried. “Are…. you okay Grillby? Did you not know where you were going with your question?”

 

Death’s tongue disappeared back into his mouth, removing any evidence that it ever happened.

  
  


“I, er…”   
  
“Is everything alright, Grillby?” Gaster asked now too, having noticed the others stopping. Suddenly Grillby felt like a deer caught in the headlights, feeling embarrassed at his reaction. But he had the odd feeling that’s just what Death had wanted, what, with the shiteating grin he was giving him, while everyone else’s attention was on Grillby.

 

Oh, the little brat. He’d have to get him back for that eventually  _ somehow. _

 

“I’m… alright,” Grillby finally managed to utter out. “Thought I saw something. Was nothing, though.”

  
  


“Oh, okay!” Aster fell for it, “What was your question?” He asked, starting to walk out the entrance  of the cave, cradling Death in his hold while one hand lay on Reaper’s head, a way to feel connected to both of his sons.

  
  


“Well, er… I just meant to ask where we are going,” Grillby finally got to ask. “You… seem to be following Reaper, but where is  _ he  _ going?” And even more importantly, where would they go for the long run? He figured the southern kingdom was off the table with Reaper and Death back, Gaster wouldn’t allow the demons in a kingdom this big - and dangerous - just yet.

 

“OH!!! I THOUGHT WE WERE JUST GOING FOR A WALK,” Papyrus commented surprised, but he gently patted Reaper’s shoulder blades while sitting on his back. “WHERE  _ ARE _ WE GOING???”

  
  


“TRAVELING???” Reaper asked, looking around like that one person that wasn’t filled in and looking at everyone around him for answers.

 

“Oh!” Aster gasped, pulling the demon’s head to his side. “I suppose…. we are. Now that we can’t go to the southern kingdom with you two in this form, we will have to skip that pitstop.” He mused, his head resting on Death’s skull and glancing at both his sons to see what their reaction will be.

 

Hearth shifted in his spot. “Does that mean… we will say goodbye earlier than we thought?”

 

Aster looked at him solemnly. “I suppose so.”

  
  


“no it doesn’t!” Sans argues, his tone slightly scared and panicked. “the deal was to help ‘em control their murder urges, we didn’t finish that!”

 

Gaster quirked a brow at Sans surprised. “They have Aster for that now,” he pointed out, though he knew there wouldn’t be much arguing it.

  
“...By all due respect, Sir, I don’t think Aster has quite the experience with Death and Reaper as we do,” Grillby pointed out as well, Sans feeling the sudden urge to glare at him. He knew Grillby was just trying to stay with the demons together, just like Sans was. But Sans had a good reason to, and Grillby was just… invading…

  
  


“Excuse me!” Aster scoffed, hugging Death closer to him while the other hand held the demon head close to his person. “Are you suggesting I can’t take care of my  _ own  _ sons? As you can see they see me as their father and clearly are tame with me, and if something  _ were  _ to get out of hand, I can use my magic. I am fully able to take care of  _ my children _ .” He spat, Death shrinking in his hold to hide from his father’s rage.

 

Reaper too, seemed to subdue at his father’s tone, like the children in them kicked in and made them obey their elders.

 

Hearth winced and took a step away from Grillby and Aster,  _ not  _ wanting to be a part of this what’s so ever.

  
  


“N...Not at all, Sir,” Grillby tried, not having expected to anger Aster like that. “I’m just saying… we’ve seen them in their worst, we… know what to expect. Plus, it is better to have more people around if someone were to attack them and you’d have to stop both them as well as your sons from killing each other…”   
  
“THEY’RE OUR FRIENDS,” Papyrus said, completely ignoring everything else the others were talking about. He leaned down so he was lying with his chest on Reaper, hugging his arm around his neck. “I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO SAY GOODBYE TO THEM ALREADY! WE DESERVE TO STAY WITH THEM!!!”

  
  


Aster looked at Papyrus surprised, almost offended. “I wasn’t planning on taking them away! You can travel with us all you like, but my boys will stay with  _ me _ .” He moved to be in front of the other skeleton bending down a little to be at his height.  “I have thought you all wanted to go back to the south kingdom, I wanted you all to know they are safe with me, but if all this back and forth is just because you don’t want to part, then I’m not stopping any of you from coming with us.”

 

He looked at Grillby, “Was that what you were really worried about?”

  
  


Grillby felt caught red handed, embarrassed. But he nodded. “I… was…,” he admitted a bit abashed. “I had… thought you’d want your time alone with your family.”

 

“SO??? ARE WE GOING WITH THEM???” Papyrus asked hopefully, sitting up on Reaper’s back to look towards Sans.

 

“‘course we are!” Sans told him, already making the decision, before glancing up to his father.   
  


“...Very well. I will stay as well,” the sorcerer decided. “The king should be able to protect his kingdom a little while longer without me.”

  
  


Death wiggled out of his fathers grasp to pounce Sans, latching onto Sans’ face. His legs wrapping around his neck, using the shoulder as support. His arms were around the top of the head, while he curled in to engulf Sans’ head in a demon ball hug. His wings thankfully flapped to lessen the weight from when Sans fell back due to the force. 

 

Reaper huffing in delight before marching out the cave on his fours, leaving a chuckling Aster behind to laugh at his clingy son, looking like some kind of hat that covered your whole face and head.

  
  


Sans barely even managed to stay on his feet, placing both his arms around Death’s back.

 

“can’ see ‘nythin’,” he complained, voice muffled through his face full of demon. But he was grinning into Death’s stomach, amused and absolutely happy to have him in his arms again. Even if it was… in an odd way.

 

Gaster was laughing as he stopped following the others to stay with his temporarily blinded son. “Do you need help?” He asked, getting a muffled, “no,” as reply. And then Sans began to keep walking forward, not seeing a thing, so Gaster had to end up taking him by the shoulder to lead him safely outside.

 

“We should get back to the carriage,” Grillby mused once they arrived at the exit of the cave, already untying the horses. “If we’re going to travel together, we’ll most likely need it more than ever.”

  
  


Death stuck out his small tongue at Gaster, his expression blank, but he did hug Sans’ head tighter. Like he was telling Gaster he was his, he even gently slapped Gaster’s hand away before curling back up around the head again. Wings blocking off any parts that his body can’t cover.

 

“my snas.” Death muttered.

  
  


Gaster pulled his hand back surprised, perhaps a bit offended, but… he decided not to interfere between the two mates. But Sans was helpless without his father’s guidance, unable to see anything. He patted his hands on Death’s back, letting out a small whine.

 

“help?”

  
  


Death turned his head to look in front of them, grinning at the hard looking tree just up ahead. “straight.” Going back to his normal position and waiting for the results with a evil look in his sockets.

  
  


Sans did as he was told, confidently marching forward. Gaster turned back to see his son, calling, “Sans, wait!” Out too late. Sans already ran face-first, or rather Death-first into a tree, bumping against it roughly.

 

“oof!” He gasped out as he fell back from the impact, landing on his butt and hands. “ow! wha’ th’ ‘ell was that!?”

  
  


Death’s only answer was a malicious giggle, like a evil genius getting his plan to work according to plan, not minding the little bump at all if it meant this. 

  
  


Sans groaned as he let himself fall back to the ground. He put his hands firmer onto Death, pulling him off his face until he was sitting on his chest.

 

“you tricked me!” Sans said in exaggerated shock, a hand dramatically to his chest. “how can i ever trust you again?”

  
  


Death just went back into his position to hugging Sans face, ignoring his mate’s turmoil. 

  
  


Sans huffed in defeat, accepting his fate. He just stayed on the ground with the demon on his face, gently patting his back every once in a while.

 

Until Gaster sighed and decided to come up to them. “Let me help you,” he said softly, picking Death up under his arms like a kitten.

  
  


Death immediately started to let out a demonic screech in outrage, trying to reach for Sans and wiggle his way out. “ssaannsss!!!!” His tail tried to whack at Gaster’s side to let him go, but it was noticeably soft, like Death didn’t want to hurt Gaster. But he did flap his wings for Gaster to lose his grip on him, but all his attempts failing.

 

“ _ sans!” _

  
  


“noooooo _ ooo _ ,” Sans whined as Death was removed from him. He quickly got off the ground again, reaching for the demon Gaster was still holding. “mine!  _ mine! _ ”   
  
Gaster seemed a little taken aback, though honestly, he should’ve expected it. “Very well,” he sighed out, handing the demon over for Sans to hold him again, this time in his arms, though. “But please do stay off my son’s face this time. We need to get back to the carriage, and I’d like to avoid accidents on the way…”

  
  


Death frowned at the taller skeleton, holding Sans tight like he was going to take him away again, but he just ended up sticking his tongue at him before curling up in Sans arms, crooning in Sans’ neck for comfort. 

 

Why was Death so needy right now? It felt like Sans was so far away yet so close for what felt like days, he needed to feel Sans here, need to settle with Sans here. He doesn’t know what happened, but what ever happened, he doesn’t want it ever again.

  
  


Sans didn’t mind his neediness anyway. He was just glad to be with his mate, to hold him tightly in his arms. They ended up having to share a horse, though, so Sans had to let go of Death temporarily and let him sit behind him.

 

Gaster and Papyrus were also sharing a horse, so where Grillby and Hearth. Only Aster wasn’t, with Reaper being too big to fit onto the horse with him, so the demon was beside them instead.

  
  


Both demons had a hard time trying not to bite into the horses, Death often having to be pulled back into a sitting position before he could sink his teeth into the horses back. It was weird having to sit on food, but having to ride it and not bite it made it agony for Death, groaning into Sans’ back. Not to mention his ass hurt a lot with the horses movements, why was his but so sore? Why did it feel like that time Sans mated him for the first time? Sans and him haven’t mated since then, so why will it hurt now?

 

Reaper was very much the same, going to run beside the animals and try to swipe a piece. Only ended up with Aster scolding him while bonking his head lightly and saying “No.” Reaper grumbled to himself and even once tried to whimper at Aster to make him give in, but the older skeleton didn’t budge.

  
  


But by the time they arrived back at the village the horses were still safe and untouched. They all slipped off of them for Grillby to attach them to the carriage again, Sans quickly picking Death back up to hold him in his arms, giving him a small but deep kiss.

 

“thank y’,” he said, smiling brightly at his mate. “for not attacking th’ horses. i know ‘s gotta be tough.” But they  _ did _ it. Death and Reaper both, and Sans was so proud of them, of his mate.

  
  


“it ‘urt.” Death stated, glaring at Sans like it was his fault that his ass hurt and he had to take the horses rough galloping. 

  
  


“‘m sorry, love,” Sans hummed apologetically, placing a few more kisses on Death. But he couldn’t help but to smile a little against him. As bad as he felt Death had to go through this roughness, he  _ hadn’t _ missed how much he was talking today. How much he was saying his name, but also just talking in general and it felt… he felt… honored?   
  
He liked hearing Death talk, that much was clear.

 

“Alright, the horses would be ready,” Grillby finally said. “I’d say we all eat something, before we start traveling.” He glanced towards the abandoned deer he had been trying to heat up this morning, the campfire already gone out, and decided to kneel down again to start a new one.

  
  


As everyone started to do their own thing, Death moved so he was face to face in Sans’ hold, staring hard at him. “why my butt ‘urts?” His tone and face expression was filled with suspicion, his back paws holding firm on Sans’ hips while his clawed hands were holding onto his shoulders.

  
  


Sans face flushed surprised at the question. “uh… i, uh…” Shit, shit, shit. Was Death even aware he had been Comic for this small while? How was he supposed to explain they had sex he couldn’t remember at all without it seeming creepy!?

 

“i… uh… we… uhm…” He was stammering, nervous, unsure of what to tell him and how.

  
  


Death’s stare started to become more of a glare, staring holes into Sans. Not budging at all or planning to let Sans go. It could be two things, and one was very scary. “someone rape me when ‘m out?” He didn’t remember at all! And if it was Sans he would just tell him right? “hearth?” Death’s voice got lower, looking at the flame in question, a shiver going down his spine when he thought of the pain he is feeling coming from that monster shoving his fire dick inside him.

 

With their last sexual encounter being as scary as it was, and Hearth being the only one close that could do that. Death felt really violated and dirty, curling in on himself while letting go of Sans. He didn’t move away per say, he only used his wings to stay at the same height, but he still curled up without touching Sans.

  
  


“no!” Sans said quickly, cursing himself quietly, reaching out for Death. “no, no, not at  _ all _ . we…  _ we  _ had sex… while you were… death, you weren’t demon for some days…”

  
  


Death looked up at Sans intensely, not speaking, but his whole posture practically screaming for Sans to continue and explain everything. Will this also explain his lack of memories for what felt like a while to him?

  
  


Sans felt a bit uncomfortable under Death’s stare, not sure if he was the right one to explain. But he  _ deserved _ an explanation, and most likely was demanding one.

 

“my, uh… my dad ‘n yours tried t’ restore you an’ reaper to… to y’reselves before you turned demon… it worked until today…” He was fidgeting with his hands a bit, not sure how Death would react to that. They had sort of done it behind the demons backs, though it  _ had _ been for their best! At least so they had thought.

  
  


Death growled lowly at him, his claws starting to dig into the bones, going a bit harder every few seconds. Death ended up jumping away from Sans, storming off to break off a large piece of meat and push it towards Reaper, he went near his brother and pushed him up from his sitting position. Completely ignoring everyone and whispered and grunted at his brother while Reaper cooed in confusion. 

 

Reaper only listened and ripped the meat in half quietly, soon his mood dropping into a scowl. They slowly devoured their pieces while they walked, not leaving any room for Sans or anyone to react before both marched into the carriage with meat in their mouths.

 

“What just happened?” Aster asked confused, getting a shrug from Hearth.

  
  


Sans was caving in on himself, arms tightly around his chest as he joined the others to eat, though he suddenly found himself not feeling very hungry anymore. Great. Perfect. He just  _ had _ to ruin it, just when Death had seemed so clingy to him…

 

Grillby was glancing after the demons, eyes narrowed in surprise and concern. He handed the deer towards his brother without a word, before getting up and going towards the carriage, Sans watching every of his moves with a bitter glare.

 

But the elemental didn’t notice at all, only stopping when he reached the entrance to the carriage cart, gently knocking onto it. “Is everything… alright with you two…?” He asked without quite going in yet.

  
  


Reaper let out a dark low growl from the other side, warning Grillby not to enter, daring him even. Both demons were now having a private meeting, chirping and clicking at each other to talk, they only stopped when they were rudely interrupted.

  
  


Grillby pulled his hand back at the noise, but figured it meant they didn’t want him there right now. “...Alright, I’ll leave you be…,” he let them know quickly, before settling back down at the campfire with the others.

  
  


Death huffed as he relaxed back on the ground, chewing on his slab of meat aggressively. Pshh, why do they fucking care? They’re demons! Going on and try to turn them back like that, like they  _ prefered  _ them before what they are now! Like they were a bother that way. Does his mate really like him better how he was before? Is he really not good enough anymore?

 

No of course they would want the non-demon him, he was so much better in every way! He wasn’t an animal and keep getting them into trouble. Why did Sans even mate with a demon like him to begin with?.... Oh. He was in heat, he couldn’t resist. It’s a common thing to happen, hell his smell is  _ supposed  _ to make that happen when he was in heat. But it still hurt that Sans didn’t mate with him because he wanted him, he was just covered with lust.

 

And their father, now he makes both the demon brothers blood boil, changing them to the perfect little children he wanted! He wasn’t even here for most of their lives, what gave him the right to come in here and do what he wants? Change them? Make them go through all that pain when they woke up. Gaster was no different, he was like a villager they killed here following the crowd because they wanted to.

 

Reaper was beyond angry too. Feeling like Papyrus’ friendship was just lies and fake smiles. The pain in his chest at finding out the one person he smelled like family besides Death,  _ Aster _ . He tricked them. Tears started to taint the bigger’s sockets, the small one’s not being that far behind.

 

Reaper growled lowly at the thought. Were they toys that they played ‘what if’ with? Did they want fame for ‘freeing’ them from the demon curse? 

 

What if they  _ want  _ to stay like this? Would they still want them? Most likely not. Since they all wanted them to be good little boys, pshh, fuck that they were demons and they liked who they are.

 

Death glanced at his brother, both making eye contact, before Reaper’s gaze went to the door, the other door on the other side of the carriage. Away from the other’s view, he looked back at his brother, the question tense in the air. 

 

The smaller skeleton nodded, the movement making his tears stream down faster and in bigger clumps. Reaper opened the door and ran out, Death soon after, both running from the cursed village and the cursed people they thought they trusted.


	31. second chance?

Aster stretched his arms and back as he stood up, finished his dinner and ready to head off. “I will grab a few things to put in the carriage, I want at least some mementos of my sons before they were…. you know.” He was mostly thinking about Comic’s staff and Russ’ toy doll, made with so much love and memories.

 

Hearth nodded, throwing the bones they all ate around in a pile to give the demons a little later.

  


Sans lied back with a groan as everyone seemed to get up to get ready. Gaster still had to undo the spell he used to create a bed, Papyrus was mostly picking together necessities they hadn’t brought into the carriage yet.

 

Only Grillby and Hearth seemed to stay around the campfire, Hearth still piling up their bones, while Grillby was starting to lower the fire. Once the fire was out, though, the latter slowly turned to Sans concerned.

  
“So… what… happened?” He asked hesitantly.

 

Sans opened one eye socket to glare at Grillby, before closing it again and groaning some more. “‘ad t’ tell ‘im we turned ‘em back monster…,” he admitted, though. “‘parently didn’t take it well…”  
  


Hearth hummed in thought, “They… took it bad? But why? What did we do bad?” He looked at Sans, like he would have the answer to his questions, but deep down he knew Sans didn’t know. Or then he would of walked up to that carriage and fixed everything.

 

He huffed out a breath of exhaustion.  “They can’t be calm and happy can’t they?” He asked, ever since Hearth met one of the brothers, not to mention two, there was something always up with them that made them upset, or made them all go scrambling after them. It was getting really tiring.

  


“i mean, i get ‘em…,” Sans muttered quietly, though he felt like that only made it worse. “i wouldn’t be too ‘appy if y’all were to secretly turn me normal ‘cause a my… unholy magic. ‘s a part of me. bein’ demon is a part of _them._ ”

 

Grillby felt a pang of guilt in his chest. It wasn’t like he’d been actively involved in the process of turning him normal, but neither did any one of them stop it.

  
“We tried to… help…” Grillby weakly tried to excuse himself, but Sans just shrugged in reply.

 

“turned out great, didn’t it…”

  


Hearth sighed, standing up when Aster walked out the hut with his arms full of Comic’s and Russ’ stuff. “Alright boys, let’s go!” He chirped, marching to the carriage where Papyrus was putting stuff in the small little department behind the carriage.

 

The older flamed followed close behind, motioning the others with him. Wanting to leave the tense scene behind and get this over with.

  


Gaster followed Aster, watching a bit concerned as he seemed to fill the carriage with knick knack. But he decided not to stop him, figuring that the things were probably important to him. He went onto the front, deciding to take over the leading for now as his servant has been sent back. Papyrus meanwhile already walked up to the door of the cart, being the first one to enter, except…

 

“WHERE’S DEATH AND REAPER???”

 

Sans rose from his spot on the ground, eyes wide and frightened. “...what?”  
  
“They were in the carriage last…” Grillby said, too, warily joining Papyrus to peek inside. There was no trace of them.

  


Aster sighed in distress, holding his head before looking around. “Where did they run off to this time?”

 

Hearth went around the carriage and say the open door on the other side. “Looks like they left from the other side so we couldn’t see them.” He looked the opposite way of the carriage, a clearing before large trees. “We have to find them, prepare the carriage, we don’t know how far they gone!”

 

Aster nodded, already closing the small department in the back before ushering everyone on the carriage, closing the door behind them. “Do we have anything to track them? _Anything at all?_ ”

  


“u-uhm i can… sense death… sometimes…” Sans voice was hesitant, slightly embarrassed. He still wasn’t sure when or how he could sense Death, and it usually wasn’t an exact direction pointer, more like a, he’s here _somewhere._ Only once Sans would get actually somewhat close enough would Sans be able to actually smell him.

  


“Do you sense them now?” Aster turned to look at him, hope shining in his sockets. Hearth too, looking at Sans like he will just give them directions.

  


“‘s… uh… a bit…?” Sans offered. He _did_ still sense Death around, though he couldn’t possibly point them at a direction. “we’ll have to, uh, get closer, though… before i can actually, uh… find ‘em.”  
  
Gaster hummed thoughtfully, having expected that kind of reply. “We have a vague idea of what direction they went,” Gaster mused, pointing towards the exit they must’ve left through, eliminating any paths where they would’ve been too visible. “We could just head there for now, until we find any other leads.”

 

-

 

Reaper’s claws easily ran through the flesh like a hot knife through butter. Death was near by tearing open a baby bear, leaving the mama to Reaper to claw at. They have been going on a spree, killing every single thing in sight, they went far enough to reach a little road. It wasn’t often used, only a carriage or a horse man coming through every once a month, maybe longer.

 

Unfortainly for the two men that were passing through, Death and Reaper were there, covered in bear’s blood, it’s fur in their joints and their teeth filled with their meat.

 

The two men let out loud screams of terror, not even standing a chance. Death and Reaper didn’t even eat their remains, they followed the road to the next village, which was quite a long ways.

 

-

 

Grillby cursed under his breath as he saw the traces of blood and death, fur scattered around like there’s been a cat playing with a mouse, except so much bigger in scale.

 

“...Finally,” Gaster said. They had been searching for a while now, not knowing where to go, only going by Sans’ vague sense of, ‘no we’re getting farther away,’ every once in a while. But this, this was a clear trace. This was something he could even get a hold of their magic from, if he’d just-

 

But Sans was faster, his eyes locking onto the spot of blood and fur like a hound would on it’s prey, before his head snapped up. “this way,” Sans said, his voice clipped but strong, and he pointed into the direction he could smell Death’s scent wafting from. It was so strong, so prominent he really wondered how he hadn’t noticed it before, but he _hadn’t._ Only now that he’s gotten a clear sign of it did he really smell Death clearly.

  


They all rushed into the carriage, shushing the horses when they refused to continue, sensing the danger. But they got them to move, going to the direction Sans pointed to, going straight until they reached a clearing. Everyone stopped.

 

Those were two bodies. And they weren’t even eaten, just killed in cold blood. Their horses were torn apart like a pinata. All the insides everywhere.

 

This made their horses go crazy, Aster having to run up to his horse to calm him, while Hearth had to struggle to calm two, each hand going to both horses in the back row.

  


Grillby quickly followed as well, calming the last horse. He shouldn’t be surprised, should have expected something like that, but the corpses not even being eaten at all was still… jarring.

 

“we have to keep goin’, they’re close!” Sans urged, nervous and impatient. He could sense Death so close, could smell him, the blood on him, could smell himself on his mate even through the distance.

 

Grillby glanced up towards the skeleton slightly concerned, but he gave him a nod. They all hurried back onto the carriage once the horses seemed somewhat calmed, and Gaster managed to keep them going, Papyrus glancing after the two dead men sadly.

  


By the time they reached the demons, it looked like there was a massacre. Two dead deer on the ground, one with it’s insides ripped out, and the other slashed every which way and it’s head ripped off. There were countless birds and squirrels on the floor, disfigured so much that you had to squint and look closer to know what animal it used to be. But what really got the demon’s attention, was the crocodiles that came out the lake they were at.

 

Three already lay dead on the ground, while Reaper threw one straight into a tree before pouncing it. Death had a foot inside one of the animal’s mouth, pushing his foot down on the floor of it’s mouth while his arms held the snout, pulling it upwards until there was a huge cracking sound. The crocodile went still after that, but Death didn’t stop there, he shoved his hand down it’s throat, coming back with it’s guts and stomach, throwing them to the approaching crocodile.

 

They both looked angry, pissed. Reaper had a hard stone face with a bit of a hard frown. While Death’s face was stretched to one of outrage, hissing and growling almost nonstop.

  


“Get back into the carriage, Papyrus…” Gaster said, his tone strict, and he heard the young skeleton let out a small whimper as they all saw the massacre happening here, Death and Reaper not too far from it.

 

This… wasn’t like them. This was like when Reaper went on a rampage after his brother getting kidnapped. Was like them after they got chased out of their village, first turned demon. But nothing like that _happened,_ and seeing them like that, not understanding why or how to stop it was… frightening. Saddening.

 

“ _death!_ ” Sans called out without hesitation, and Grillby cursed as he tried to reach out for him, tried to get him back, but Sans was too quick. He left his staff behind, instead jumping off the carriage as quick as he could, running towards the field of blood, death and destruction.

  


Death turned when heard his _mate_ call. “ **_y o u ._ ** ” Death growled, his smiled looking unhinged and madding.

 

“do ya like wha ya see? am i as bad as ya remember?” Death didn’t care if his voice hurt from talking to much, he didn’t care if he was talking in general, he wanted Sans to feel his pain. All of it.

 

“or da ya still want me when i was _not_ a _curse_ ! did i _ruin_ yer plans when i changed back? were ya _disappointed_? not sorry, dis is me, guess ta bad fer ya, ey?” Death said the last comment as he tore into the crocodile that was heading for him, never breaking eye contact with Sans.

 

He was covered head to toe with blood. A true demon, smiling at you with hollow sockets and a evil smile. Nothing like the sweet shy boy he once was.

  


Sans halted at the harsh words, but he didn’t back away. He didn’t glance away or flee. “what’re you _talking_ about!?” He asked, his voice desperate and sad. “i-... y-you didn’t ruin _anything_!” If anything, Sans did by upsetting the demons this much.

 

“‘m _sorry_ for what we did, for wha’ we let happen! we only wanted to _help._ ”

  


Death roared, loud and harsh, going on his fours to glare at him. “why did ya change me den? what if i _wanted_ ta stay me! was i not good enough like dis?!?!” he screeched, refusing himself to cry, not in front of Sans, not in front of anyone!

 

Reaper was keeping the crocodiles at bay, letting Death handle Sans while he covered him from behind. But that didn’t stop him from wanting so bad to get in this, but he couldn’t, Death had to figure it out with his mate.

  


“we just-... p-people _won’t_ always accept you this way w-which… it’s… ‘s _their_ fault, _their_ loss, we just…-” Sans was stammering, stuttering. He knew what he wanted to say, but it was _so hard_ to talk like this. He could feel the other’s staring into his back like they were expecting him to fix this.

 

“we sh-should’ve talked t’ you first, i’m… ‘m so sorry, death! we never meant _harm!_ we just thought it’d be safer for _you_ this way...”

  


“i am _happier_ dis way! it is _ya_ all dat want me ta change, ta be uncursed! food’ acceptance means nothin’! _ya_ were ‘ust unhappy with me! dat ya _changed_ me, ya all were da only ones wantin’ dat! it was all ya! selfish!” Death screeched, couldn’t help the tears pooling in his sockets, but for the love of everything, they will never fall.

 

Reaper was having a harder time, his tail and arms were bitten, tried so hard to be as unnoticed as possible. But that was hard to do with five crocodiles on you, they didn’t seem happy with their family being slaughtered like that it seems.

 

He was just ready to just take off and snatch his brother on the way, there were too many in all sides, he couldn’t. But he didn’t notice one slip past him, towards the leg of a unexpecting demon.

  


“‘m not unhappy with you!” Sans cried out. “god fu- i love y’ no _matter_ what. we were selfish, an’ we made a mistake, a fuckin’ _big_ one!” One that he regretted so, so much, one that he _wished_ he would’ve stopped when he had the chance, rather than sitting by silently, because daddy knows best.

 

“but ‘s not ‘cause we didn’ want _you._ your _demon_ selves! we just wanted what’s b-best and… and lost sight…”

  


Death growled, opening his mouth to spit insults at him when a sharp pain filled his senses, it came from his leg. Death yelped and beat his wings in a attempt to get away, but the crocodile held tight, most likely be dragged off with Death instead of it letting go.

 

His brother made a strangled sound as he violently swiped at the surrounding crocodiles with new strength. Going into the air to see what has happened to his brother with no attacking animals around him. One slipped past him.

 

Him.

 

He had so many to keep track of that one went past him completely unnoticed!

  


“ _no!_ ” Sans screamed, eyes wide in shock and anger, something deep, dark and hot coiling in his stomach as he saw his mate getting _attacked,_ saw him in danger. He didn’t bring his staff, but he didn’t even care anymore, dark magic crackling from his bones. Death was still too far away for Sans to get even _close_ when he reached out for him, but it didn’t even matter as the magic sprouted a black tentacle from his arms, impaling the crocodile clean before it dissipated. But the magic stayed on the wound, eating and burning the animal up from inside, the hole growing more and more in size, until one half of the body tore off from the other, the connection being too thin and weak to keep together.

  


The moment the animal was impaled was when the grip on Death’s leg loosened, making Death squirm his foot out before getting tackled by his brother. Being pulled to the side to get his wound licked up.

 

Pain wasn’t that bad for them both, getting hurt may surprise them and hurt, but they had worse. He let his brother lick at his wound, while he got to work on his brother’s arms, already noticing the bite mark on his tail. Oh, poor dear brother, getting hurt for his account. He has the best brother ever.

 

Aster finally went to action, everyone staying back to let Sans deal with the demons till now. That was reasonable though, Sans has a special connection with Death, and is the most likely to leave unharmed. Yes, it was Aster’s idea in the first place to change the demon brothers back, and he regretted it now, but Death wasn’t going after him. It may sound petty but if he wasn’t in the line of fire of his demon son’s rage, and someone else was, he wasn’t that keen to just jump in.

 

Hell, Death would never hurt Sans, he was his mate. At least Sans was protected that way, so he was fine staying back, and it seemed everyone else was fine with that too. Up until Death got hurt and Sans unleashed very powerful and untamed black magic.

 

Aster went straight to his boys, leaving the group to check his sons health, but Reaper growled and swiped at him with his tail. Looks like the demons didn’t want _anyone_ near, it made sense, they were both taking care of wounds. Or maybe they just didn’t want anyone near in general, just because Sans got the croc off Death doesn’t mean Death forgave him.

 

Oh boy.

  


Gaster also got off the carriage, except instead of running to the demons, he was running to his own son. Sans by now was lying on the ground with wide, shocked eyes, magic still crackling heavily around him. If either of them had hair, it’d probably be standing up from the energy of it.

 

“Are you okay?” Gaster asked concerned, not ever having seen his own son unleash his magic like that, this powerful, destructive, this close to his _own being._

 

“i… i gotta get to death…,” Sans muttered out, moving to get up, but Gaster was holding him back.

 

“Let him be. He needs time right now,” Gaster tried softly. “They need to calm down themsel-”  
  
“ _i gotta check after my mate!_ ” Sans growled, pushing his father off of him. Except his hands were laced with dark magic, like an extension of his body, covering his arms and hands, fingers tipping in sharp claws.

 

The magic seeped into Gaster as it attacked him, battling with his own, and it wasn’t _tragic,_ it wasn’t something he couldn’t handle, with Sans not having unleashed anything powerful on him. But it was _scary_ with the magic coming from his own son.

 

Sans was running past anything else now, only heading for _Death_.

  


Reaper let his tail go between his legs, he was on his fours growling at Aster to get away. Death under him protected by him as he noms of his tail, instead of just licking the injured tail Death instead put the whole injured part into his mouth, lapping it up with his tongue.

 

He turned away from both Aster and Sans, not wanting them to see his face, the face that still had tears ready to pool over. Death wiped one of his sleeves on his eye sockets, only managing to smear blood on his sockets instead. Welp. That’s better than them seeing tears, the blood would cover up the blue tears hopefully.

 

“Oh come _on_ , Reaper! It’s me, papa! I won’t hurt you!” Aster whined, his arms positioned in a manner that was supposed to be pacifying, but not succeeding in calming Reaper down at all.

  


Sans was ignoring them both, shoving Aster out of the way roughly, before pushing past Reaper to get to Death.

  


Reaper growled and almost bit Sans, but stopped himself just in time, he would never bite his own brothers mate. But he did swipe at Aster when he tried to get close. Looks like Reaper is going to have to deal with his annoying step brother.

  


“ _death,_ ” Sans cooed, his voice quiet and dripping with worry. He dropped down onto the ground, trying to check over his mate. “where’re you hurt?”

  


Death glanced over at his hands and scrambled away, hissing in warning. Sans’ hands were covered his dark magic, untamed and biting, like hell he would let Sans touch him. Death’s gaze stayed on the dark hands, spitting his brother’s tail out his mouth and backing away slowly. His whole body tense and on the alert, both of them were under Reaper, and Sans is dangerous, Death couldn’t just leave his brother to get hurt. If it came down to it, he would most certainly pick his brother’s safety over his mate’s.

  


“ _death,_ ” Sans practically begged, eyes wide and hurt. Why did he seem so much on alert? Like Sans was going to attack him, was going to hurt him. “ _please._ lemme heal you…”

 

He was reaching out for Death, one clawed hand raising towards Death. But he didn’t want to hurt him, never in his life did Sans want to hurt Death again, and the hostile magic calmed. It was still _there,_ still lacing his arms, clawed as ever. But it wasn’t aggressive anymore, was reaching out for Death to connect with him, to heal him, to make sure he was _safe._

  


It was hard going against your mate, especially if they are the dominant one of the pair, with the mark on his own neck to prove it. So when Sans reached out, Death had to struggle with his own wants and instincts to react. That was powerful magic. How powerful was his monster? The dark magic giving him claws and lacing around his arms, but it was commanding. It was the same magic that binded the mark on his shoulder, the same one that commanded respect and obedience.

 

Death couldn’t go against Sans, not when his magic was as wild as it is. So Death stayed still, letting Sans put his hands on him, his powerful, commanding, mate hands on him. He was Sans’, he was his property in a way, so he deserved what is his.

 

Reaper had gotten off them at one point, going a little ahead to not be directly above the alarming magic under him.

  


“ _thank you,_ ” Sans whispered out, and he reached for the wounded leg. Some of the magic left Sans’ arms, going to cover the hurt limb instead. But Sans’ still kept his own hands on him, sending healing waves coursing through the demon.

 

He noticed his mate flinching at the touch of his magic and flinched back as well, scared he accidentally hurt him. “s-sorry,” he stammered out, hands drawn close to his body. “does it hurt…?”

  


Death shook his head timidly, looking away, “very strong…” He said quietly, glancing at Sans’ arms. He wanted to drop kick this fucker so bad….

  


“...sorry,” Sans muttered again, quietly, but he continued healing. “‘m almost done, i’m…” His breath stuttered. “i-’m gonna leave you be… again…”

 

Sans raised his hands from Death’s leg again once he deemed it healed enough, the magic on both the leg and Sans’ arms dissipating into nothing. He didn’t want to let go of Death. Didn’t want to leave his mate again, not after he saw him get hurt just now, not in _general._

 

But… Death clearly didn’t want him here. So he got up again, arms crossed as he glanced onto the ground, slowly backing off from the demons again.

  


Thankfully Reaper calmed down as well, letting Aster come close to tackle him into a hug, shushing him and cooing at him when Reaper growled. “It’s okay, it’s gonna be okay.” But he got pushed away, Reaper huffing and turning away, sitting next to his brother and glaring at Sans and Aster, daring them any closer. Death remained where he was, tensing up when he saw the others getting closer.

 

Hearth stopping once Reaper roared at them all, Death hissing lightly, but it was clear they both mellowed out somewhat from the event.

 

Aster dropped to his knees, cooing at them softly, “Come on little ones, please come back with us to the carriage?” Sighing once he got hisses as a reply. Aster turned to look at Gaster and Sans, hoping they had an idea.

  


It was Grillby who ended up stepping up to them, his eyes soft and worried. “...You have a right to be angry,” he said, quietly. “You have so many reasons to hate us. But… please… we care so much about you… Can you give us a chance to make it up? To repent?”

  


“WON’T EVEN LET US GO IF WE SAY NO…” Reaper pointed out, glaring at the flame in hate. “DON’T EVEN LIE.”

 

And it was true. They couldn’t just let them go to continue to on hurting others. They had to stay with them to make sure no one could hurt _them._ They were almost keeping them as prisoners, except Death was almost only here for Sans, and Reaper the same for Death. They might be here for Aster now too maybe, but no one was sure.

 

Hearth sighed in frustration, “You know it’s not like that! We want to keep you safe and we were just thinking about your safety! We’re sorry, we didn’t mean to hurt you, we didn’t mean to make you unhappy! Please believe that.” He almost whispered the last part.

 

The demon’s father reaching out farther to put their attention back on the hand, back on the offering he almost begged.

 

Death glanced over to Sans, almost waiting.

 

What are you going to do now? He was still a demon and he isn’t going back, so what is your next move Sans? You wouldn’t of changed him back without wanting a different mate. You wouldn’t want to lose your mate if there was something to lose.

 

Tell me.

  


But Sans stayed quiet this time, arms still crossed and eyes glued to the ground. He felt like he had already ruined too much. He didn’t know what else he could tell Death, knew there was no way he could excuse himself in the first place.

 

He’s fucked up. Death didn’t want him anymore. And Sans had to live with the painful truth, because, what else was he gonna do? Force Death to come with them, be with him? He would never.

  


“Please?” Aster begged, looking straight into Reaper’s sockets, since he was the only one looking at him.

 

The bigger demon sighed, looking at his brother, then at his father, his blood. He got up, slowly walking past Aster to the carriage, opening the door swiftly and walking in. Death yelped after his brother, but not before swiping his tail under Sans’ feet before he went, making his mate fall on his back. Just like before, when he was caged by that same monster not that long ago. But this still didn’t mean he would forgive any of them, and he was sure it was the same for Reaper as well.

 

Aster sighed in relief, having trouble getting up with his wobbly legs, but he managed, chasing after the demons.

  


Papyrus squeaked as he saw the bloodied demons entering, a little startled, but not scared. He’s been wanting to get out of the carriage to see what was going on a few times, but usually Grillby or Hearth would hold him back.

 

But now the demons were here, covered in blood and dirt, looking like all hell.

 

“ARE… YOU OKAY…?” He asked them in genuine concern.

  


Reaper huffed angrily, laying down on the floor like a pouting child. Death curling up to his side and didn’t even bother to answer, hiding under Reaper’s torn shirt.

 

Aster and Hearth soon climbed in, being careful not to step on any part of the demon as they took their seats.

 

“They are a bit… angry. But they agreed to give us a second chance.” Hearth sighed, giving Papyrus a weak and tired smile. “Sorry for making you sit out and worry.”

  


“IT’S OKAY,” Papyrus told him, though there was the smallest hint of bitterness behind his voice. He would’ve liked to help.

 

Grillby climbed in as the last of them, closing the door of the carriage.

  
“WHERE’S MY BROTHER???” Papyrus asked a bit surprised and concerned. Was he not coming?  
  
“Up front with Gaster,” Grillby sighed a little. “He doesn’t… he said the carriage would be too full with all of us in here.” Though it was very clear it had been an excuse.

  


The carriage was quiet after that. No one spoke, the carriage started to move soon after, leaving the bloodied place to who knows where.

 

Both demons ignored the others as much as possible, not returning Aster’s worried gaze or Hearth’s small talk.

 

-

 

Sans was sitting beside his father, Gaster holding the reins of the horses to lead them. They had no exact direction to go, for now simply searching for a safe place to stay until they got to make their plans.

 

Sans was slouching beside his father, not sleeping despite the sun already starting to set. It was late and it had been a long, very long and exhausting day. But Sans was awake. Quiet. Not looking at Gaster even the smallest bit.

 

“That… magic,” the Sorcerer of the South eventually spoke up, his voice hesitant, approaching.

 

“came naturally,” Sans replied muttering. “‘dunno how.”   
  
“...Your mate was in danger,” Gaster spoke. “By demon customs that means you have to protect them with your life. It is no surprise your magic reacted to that.”

 

Sans shrugged, barely going in on it, staring ahead blankly.

 

“Those are… those are very dangerous powers, though, I hope you are aware of tha-”   
  
“yea, ‘m a fuckin’ warlock, big news my magic’s dangerous,” Sans interrupted him, clicking his tongue in annoyance. “i didn’t control it. what d’ ya want.”

 

“I just… want to warn you… Being a warlock and kind-willed is not a common thing,” Gaster tried to explain to his son. “It’s… not easy. We weren’t meant to do good, but we can. You just have to learn to keep your powers at bay, control your demonic instincts.”   
  
Though he knew having a mate could cloud your mind too much for the instincts to still be controllable. Could make you forget  _ everything _ around you but the person you had to protect, the person you belonged to and belonged to you.

 

It was normal for demon behavior, a survival tactic to assure your and your mate’s safety over anything else. But as a sorcerer, someone who valued other people’s life as much as their own it was a dangerous thing.

 

“Just… keep in mind that you don’t want to hurt anyone you’re close to…”   
  
Like he could’ve almost with Gaster.

 

Sans pulled his arms close, eyes wide and strained at the memories. He had felt his magic trying to attack Gaster’s, had felt it struggle and fight. And he had  _ seen _ what it did to those who lost against it, the crocodile being consumed by the magic inside out.

 

He hadn’t  _ wanted _ to actually attack his father. What he had done had been completely out of his control, but back then, then when it happened, Sans didn’t even  _ care. _ He only cared about getting to Death, making sure he was safe, healing him…

 

“‘m… sorry, dad,” Sans muttered out quietly.

 

Gaster shook his head. “Don’t be. Just try to keep yourself sane, my son.”


	32. you belong to ME

They only stayed on the road for a few hours before having to set up camp, both the demons were a few feet from the fire and the others, ignoring Grillby’s offering of food and went off to get their own. Aster was nervous the whole time while the demons were gone, but Hearth kept assuring them that Death and Reaper were only trying to get food, that they will come back.

  
  


Sans stayed back, a bit farther off the carriage to the other side of it than the others were. He had decided to do so with the excuse of trying to keep a lookout for anything or anyone out to attack them. 

 

Though really he just… he wasn’t hungry. He wasn’t feeling like it. Like anything. Like being around a group right now. He found himself a small spot close to a tree, leaning against it as he kind of just… curled up on himself.

  
  


Death and Reaper came back not that long after, carrying big boars in their claws, but hissed when anyone got near. Not planning to share their meal at all, but Aster at least sighed in relief when the brothers came back after all.

 

It took a while for Death to notice Sans not with the group, and took him a minute or two to locate him. But Sans was curled up alone while everyone was around a nice warm fire, eating and talking. Why was Sans the only one alone? Did the bastard even eat?

 

No.

 

He didn’t smell food on him at all. Ugh, this fucker thinks he can skip food. Yes he is still very angry with the monster, but like hell he would let him starve! He was his mate! Yes he was miffed, but mate’s health comes first, even if he was mad at mate.

 

He tore off a healthy amount of boar meat, pushing the rest of the body towards Reaper to guard while he was gone. Death flew up over the carriage, aiming himself to land right in front of Sans, before diving. He landed on his feet hard, but he stood up from his crouched position almost immediately. Glowering down at the miserable skeleton before him.

  
  


Sans let out a startled gasp, eyes wide as he looked up at the demon before him. But he didn’t back away, didn’t even say anything for that matter. He simply looked up at Death, startled and confused.

 

What would he want? Sans thought he didn’t want to be close to him anymore, so why was he here…?

  
  


“mate. eat.” Death commanded, dropped the big slab of boar meat onto Sans’ lap. His stare was stern, like he expected fully that Sans will do what he was told. He didn’t want to be around Sans more than he had to.

  
  


The meat was still warm, not from any fire though. From the fresh blood still seeping off it, and the sight was something that… Well. Sans has seen fresh meat before, but with the thought of having to  _ eat _ it like that just… didn’t sit well with his stomach.

 

“...not hungry,” he muttered out dismissively, glancing away.

  
  


Death flinched, but then growled venomously. He grabbed Sans’ feet and pulled, forcing Sans to lay on his back, Death took the chance to sit on his mate’s stomach angrily. He grabbed the slab of meat and tore a good bit off, shoving it to Sans’ teeth, waiting for Sans to open his damn mouth. 

 

“ _ eat. _ ” Death growled darkly, glaring down at Sans from his spot on top of him, one hand holding the slab of meat, the other was holding the smaller piece to his mouth, but the way Death curled in a little, slouching over Sans to give a more imitating appearance, did wonders to make Sans trapped, more so with the wings blocking the sides.

  
  


Sans’ eyes were wide, but he kept his teeth shut, face trying to turn away from him. What was he  _ doing!?  _ Just let him be  _ alone _ already, Sans only ever wanted to be for himself, away from the others. Why would Death come up to him  _ now _ trying to force feed him!?

 

“death  _ please, _ ” Sans complained. “i c-can’t eat that…”

  
  


Rage was coursing through Death, his claws slowly squeezing the meat in his hand, his teeth were bared and he was growling like he would an enemy. Why won’t Sans listen to him! Just because he is the dominant one? He will show him, he will fucking show him that Sans needs to listen to Death too! 

 

Death wasn’t the only one who needs to obey to the others magic!

 

Death didn’t know what he was doing, all he knew was that he forced Sans’ head to the side and sunk his teeth into Sans’ neck, intent unknown.

  
  


Sans scream was silent, choked off, but still very apparent by the shocked expression on his face, the noise quickly turning to small whimpers. The thing was, though, the bite didn’t exactly hurt.

 

It was  _ there, _ strong and deep and very present, and Sans felt himself squirming underneath Death. He was confused, he was conflicted, the bite sending something through his body that made him feel… wanted? Like he belonged.

 

“ _ deathhhh, _ ” Sans whined out, voice slightly slurred as he didn’t know what was going on.

  
  


Death didn’t move from his spot, but he did shove the piece of meat into Sans’ mouth while it was opened.

  
  


Sans was still whining, still squirming with Death’s teeth sunk into him. But the meat was already in his mouth, and he wasn’t sure just how much longer he could go through this.

 

So Sans relented, awkwardly taking a bite out of the slab of meat, resisting the urge to spit it out, choke it up again, and instead actually ate. His eyes were starting to tear up and Sans couldn’t quite tell whether it was from the teeth in his neck or the raw meat in his mouth. But he kept going anyways, taking ever so small bites out of it, watching Death with each one of them, praying for approval.

  
  


Death didn’t let go of Sans’ neck until he eaten all the meat, once he did he let go, licking up the blood and glaring down at Sans. “ya. belong. to.  **_me._ ** ” His tone was possessive, a unhinged grin formed on his dark looking face before getting up and and walking over to Reaper, getting his boar and starting back up with his own meal.

 

Ha. That will show you. He better start listening to him now! How does it feel to obey now, huh? 

 

Death felt very accomplished, feeling like he got some sort of revenge and one up-ed Sans in their mating game. Sans better think twice before going against Death ever again, he was undefeatable. 

  
  


Sans was still lying on the ground by the time Death had left, his breath slightly labored, his eyes having gone from wide and shocked to hazy and half-lidded. He had trouble processing what quite had just happened, but there was blood dripping from his mouth, and when Sans tiredly reached up with one hand to his neck, he could feel deep tooth marks against his fingertips.

 

Had Death… marked  _ him? _

 

And he had called him his. Sans was… his. Was Death’s mate, he  _ belonged _ to Death the same way Death belonged to him.

 

But… why? Sans had given him an obvious opening, why hadn’t Death  _ left _ him? Searched for a better, stronger mate to defeat his magic on Death and claim him anew. What was  _ Sans _ worth?

  
  


But he got no answer, the only one who could answer was angrily eating his meat while glaring at Hearth who was trying to come near. Sans would have to wait until Death wasn’t upset with him anymore.

 

But it won’t be today, night was coming fast and everyone retired for the night, the demons stayed outside, wanting as much space as possible from the others, hell, they even started riding the carriage on the roof of it. 

 

Everyone had slept inside but Sans, being the only stubborn one to not sleep with the others, instead sleeping beside the carriage. Death growled in annoyance and stood watch from above the carriage, keeping alert. 

 

-

 

It was been a week, they are traveling through mountain terrain and haven’t passed through any villages or towns. Death and Reaper still refused to talk to anyone, the only time they interacted was when Death had to force feed food to Sans when he skipped his serving. 

 

Currently Death and Reaper were laying on the roof of the carriage sunbathing, while the others were inside the carriage like normal, Gaster would usually be the only one outside besides the demons to lead the horses.

  
  


Gaster had a map unfold between the six of them, Aster, the priests, both of Gaster’s sons and Gaster himself. They were trying to figure out where to head to next, though it was hard without knowing what exactly what they were going to do.

 

“If we want to help them learn to not attack people and their cattle, we should go somewhere where people  _ are, _ ” Gaster mused, his fingers tracing path’s over the map as he was thinking it over.

 

“We cannot endanger innocent people, though,” Grillby muttered, eyes following Gaster’s trails focusedly. “But waiting until people pass by will take too long…”

  
  


“We also have to be on good terms with them too. If they are still mad at us, it will be hard to stop them at all. No one will believe they are good demons when they see them in one of their moods.” Aster added, frowning down at the map, arms crossed in thought.

  
  


“That  _ is _ true…,” Gaster hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe… if we stay away from people for now…” His fingers were tracing a different path now, farther away from villages now and over empty fields instead. “We’ll be able to give them more freedom… More space to relax and calm down.”   
  
“We’ll be delaying any progress on helping them learn, though,” Grillby mused, but Papyrus shook his head no.

 

“GIVING THEM SPACE AND FREEDOM IS PART OF LEARNING!” He told Grillby. “THEY NEED TO KNOW WE DO NOT WANT TO JUST RESTRICT THEM!”

 

“Huh. I didn’t think of it that way… Thank you,” Grillby replied, before glancing back to Gaster.

 

“I suggest we should go this way,” the Great Sorcerer of the South finally said, tracing the final path with his hand. “It’s offside any villages or documented farms. Plus as soon as we reach this point-” He tapped with his finger on the spot of the map. “-the forest will clear up, giving us even more playroom to let them roam but still keep them in sight.”

  
  


Hearth nodded, “That’s reasonable, let’s just hope the demons will start to forgive us then.” He mused. Aster nodding in agreement, tracing the route they were going to take by memory.

  
  


“It is decided, then. We should start going tomorrow morning.”   
  
Everyone seemed just fine with this plan, agreeing easily. Sans knew that route, though, not from personal experience but from having overheard other travelers. By going there they’d be going right into bandit territory, having to pass through it to even get out of the forest.

 

But he… stayed quiet. Talking seemed like a chore, and he didn’t want to ruin things for everyone  _ again. _ Who knew, maybe he was wrong. Maybe they were going to have a safe trip. And it wasn’t like he had any better plans either…

 

-

 

They were calmly going through the forest, no trouble has reared its head at all and they seemed safe. Either the bandits didn’t want to come near two demons relaxing on top of the carriage, or they were already taken care of.

 

But at one point, the demons did sit up to be more alert when they reached the heart of the forest. They were laying low and ready to pounce, every once in a while Reaper would look towards Gaster to see if he noticed the sudden tension in the air.

  
  


He hadn’t. None of them had. The forest was quiet aside from the chirping of birds, the rustling of animals, it seemed like the safest place on earth. But it was only the calm before the storm, because within the blink of an eye, bandits seemed to come from all around them. 

 

Two came jumping down from up the trees, already kicking Gaster off the carriage, before he even noticed what was going on. Two more on each side came attacking the doors, the last one going to attack Gaster who was already on the floor. But the sorcerer managed to roll away, staff already ready in his hand.

  
  


Both demons on the carriage screeched in anger, jumping off the carriage to attack the bandits, Reaper going after one of the bandits that pushed Gaster off, while Death went after the one that almost hurt Gaster.

 

Hearth managed to push one the bandits from one of the doors back so he could get out and have more room to fight. Leaving the other one to his brother, Aster coming up from behind him to be led out the carriage to join the fight as well.

  
  


Grillby was fighting alongside Hearth, having taken on the other bandit at their door. But they clearly knew what they were doing, dodging every of Grillby’s moves.  He could see more arriving from the forests, too, three from the bushes just ahead of them, but if  _ those _ were coming, Grillby didn’t doubt they were coming from the other sides as well.

 

Gaster blocked most of the newcomers out with a wall of dark magic, but one still managed to break right through it, dark magic gnawing at their body. They were people of all kind, monsters and humans alike, and clearly outnumbered them. Outnumbered them in the literal sense, but also in varities, giving them more advantages.

 

Gaster tried to regain the overhand, summoning thorny vines against the bandits, but some still managed to evade them, cut through or straight up destroy them. Besides, Gaster couldn’t see everywhere and everything, and there were still a handful of bandits close by the carriage, trapping Sans and Papyrus inside.

 

Papyrus… couldn’t fight. Papyrus wasn’t a fighter. He didn’t have any weapons, his magic was passive, and he didn’t know any combat.  _ Sans _ was the one supposed to fight  _ for  _ them, except by the time he realized he had to  _ act _ they were already backed to the end of the carriage, the bandits too close for Sans to throw a potion at them. 

 

So he did the only thing he  _ could _ do, which was use his magic against them. Cast a spell to defend himself, spikes to impale them, or the tentacles to grab the bandits. But he was scared. Scared and shocked and his magic wasn’t playing along, wasn’t prepared, ready, and it blew up into Sans’ face, the explosion of dark magic sending him right through the walls of the carriage until he was lying on the floor.   
  
“Well look at what we’ve got,” one of the bandits cooed, and they picked up Sans by the collar, before holding him tightly trapped. “The sons of the Great Sorcerer of the South. Doesn’t look like you’re taking after your father a lot, aren’t you?”   
  
Gaster turned towards the source of the voice, startled and terrified, but by the time he reacted, Sans had already a knife to his throat. Two bandits were only a bit behind the one keeping Sans, having caught onto Papyrus as well.

  
  


Aster has seen a lot through his days, he himself has taken out a lot of the bandits easily, having going through a lot. But what he saw, his own son, suddenly become way more demonic than he ever seen him. His mouth opening wide to the point the edges of his mouth broke open to look like a nightmare. He disappeared after that, next thing he knew, the bandits near Papyrus and Sans were torn into little pieces, like they were put through a shredder. 

 

Death almost looked like he appeared out of nowhere, but Aster knew better. Death was in a running position when he was seen, his claws and teeth were painted completely in blood. Death ran, ran faster than the eye could see.

 

And he looked  _ enraged _ . Letting out the unholiest screech he had ever heard, the demon quickly ripped open any bandits that were so much as a few feet from Sans, before tackling Sans himself to the ground. On his all fours, Death was over Sans protectively, growling venomously, the sound sending shivers up your spine, the feeling of Death ripping you open ghosting over you like a sense of what you are in for.

 

Reaper took advantage of the attention Death had, quickly ripping everything living that wasn’t the group he traveled in, passing by Papyrus to wrap his tail around him and throw the monster on his back. Aster decided to use this to his advantage too, using his magic to defy gravity and pick a group of bandits in the air, before slamming them down hard on unexpecting ones. He may have heard bones snapping and dust spreading, but right now he didn’t care, the safety of his team mattered more.

 

But the bandits started to get back in gear, the surprise and fear wearing off. Hearth reacted too late to catch them off guard like Reaper and Aster did, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hold his own either.

 

Death on the other hand didn’t move from his spot, his tail swiping at anyone that got close, and his claws if they got even closer. His mouth was still parted like someone tore it apart, but now it looks more like mini sharp teeth ready destroy your flesh before you had a chance to back away.

  
  


Sans kept lying underneath his mate quiet and obedient. But his eyes were wide in shock, having  _ never  _ seen Death like that before, mouth parted and teeth showing, large claws covered in blood. Like a beast from your worst nightmares.

 

And he  _ chose _ Sans. Chose to protect Sans, saved his fucking  _ life. _ A demon this powerful, so so much stronger than Sans could ever even think to be, chose  _ him. _

 

But even  _ with _ Death and Reaper protecting his sons, the younger one clinging tightly onto Reaper’s back like he was clinging to a lifeline, Gaster was still enraged, furious. The dark magic collected around him into a protective ball of darkness, until he led it under his feet to create a pedestal with him on top. His voice echoed through the waves of magic.

 

“How dare you try to ambush, to threaten the Great Sorcerer of the South, endangering his bloodline!” He bellowed, voice dark and demanding. He raised his staff to the air, the sky turning dark at his rage as demonic skulls appeared all around him. Their maws opened heavily, beams of magic shooting down onto any of the bandits, incinerating them on the spot. He only spared those too close to his own people, unable to get them without hurting the others.

 

Everyone else got the punishment they deserved for endangering the southern sorcerers.

  
  


The others finished the bandits around them quickly, before gathering back up together to move away from here before any more bandits come and attack.

 

“Let’s go, now! Hurry!” Hearth yelled, pushed Aster and Grillby into the hole of the carriage, moving aside when Reaper charged in with Papyrus, soon after Death with Sans in his claws.

 

“Gaster, get us out of here!” Aster yelled, casting a spell around the carriage once Gaster was close to it, protecting all of them from incoming attacks.

  
  


Gaster quickly jumped onto the carriage, readying the horses, before charging off. One side of the carriage had a hole in it’s wall from where Sans blew himself through, but they decided to not bother about it for now, it was nothing they couldn’t fix later.

 

For now top priority was  _ getting out of here. _

  
  


Reaper gently let Papyrus down from his back, smelling him for any injuries before going to the others, whining softly like he was asking them if they were okay. The only one he didn’t go near was Sans, who was surrounded by the smaller demon, cooing and licking up his neck that the blade touched over and over to heal even the littlest of scratches. 

 

Death was frantic, never staying still at all, jumping from two paws to the other. Sniffing Sans’ whole body and licking up every exposed bone to heal any wounds that wasn’t there, whining desperately and cooing softly to calm Sans as much as he could. It wasn’t that affected though, his tone was still scared himself, so it did nothing to calm any nerves.

 

The only thing he felt useful of was shielding Sans from everything else, holding him in a corner, and hissing at anyone that wanted to check on either him or Sans. The corner of his mouths did fuse back together thankfully, no longer having the look of your killer.

  
  


“‘m fine, death,” Sans cooed quietly, trying to calm his mate down. “i’m ok. ‘m safe now. thanks to… you…” The last words were said a bit lower, a bit slower, but his voice dripping all the more of gratefulness. 

 

Grillby was slouched over in his seat, face in his hands as he was trying to get out of his state of shock and alarm. He glanced over to Hearth after a bit, eyes concerned. “...Are you okay?” He asked his brother. He knew he wasn’t entirely okay himself, having gotten quite roughed up during the battle, though… he was stable. Safe now. The same couldn’t be said about the bandits.

 

Papyrus, too, was glancing up, but towards Reaper, reaching a palm out for him to pet him, but letting the demon decide whether he wanted to close the last bit of distance or not. “THANK YOU, REAPER!!! YOU SAVED ME! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!”

  
  


Reaper eyed the hand for a moment, debating if he should let Papyrus pet him once again, but he couldn’t help himself, Papyrus was to great for him. 

 

Ever so slowly, Reaper leaned in and closed his sockets when the hand made contact, cooing softly at the monster.

  
  


Papyrus was smiling brightly at the reaction, energetically but carefully petting the big demon. “REALLY!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH,” he repeated himself, his smile so wide it was almost covering his whole face. He was just so  _ glad. _

  
  


Death on the other hand, who was whimpering into Sans’ neck, wasn’t having such a relaxing time forgiving the monster he was cuddling, pressing himself to Sans like he was almost trying to mold into him. 

  
  


Sans put his arms around him gently, as if trying to get Death even closer. Right now he didn’t even care if Death hadn’t wanted him close before. If he had fucked everything up between them. If he was still feeling guilty.

 

Death was pressing himself into him and Sans realized just  _ how _ starved he was for his mate’s touch. For his mate’s closeness.

 

“y’ saved my life…” He breathed out, face close to Death’s, and he  _ wanted _ to touch him, but… he felt like he wouldn’t have the permission to. So he held back.

  
  


Aster wanted to go up and ask if Death was okay watching him whimper into a overwhelmed Sans, but he had a very bad feeling that that wasn’t the best idea, for what he saw not that long ago. For now he turned to the two fire monsters, watching Hearth pull Grillby into a side hug and laugh lightly, relief and nervousness can be detected, but otherwise overjoyed. 

 

“We did it little brother! Way to go!” His arm shook Grillby lightly as the older flame gave Grillby a wide goofy smile.

  
  


Grillby let out a surprised noise, not having expected to be pulled into a hug. But he couldn’t help it but to laugh slightly with him in relief.

 

“We  _ did, _ ” he chuckled out quietly.

  
  


At least everyone seemed alright, Aster smiled softly. He moved toward the little window at the front of the carriage to open it and look at Gaster’s back. “Are you alright my friend?!” He had to raise his voice a few notches to be heard over the roar of the wind.

  
  


Gaster was glancing back to spot Aster, looking concerned at first, before relaxing in relief. “Do not worry about me, friend, I am alright,” he assured the sorcerer, voice having a hard time carrying through the winds. “How about you and the others? Are my sons okay?”

  
  


“Smothered in affection by my own sons, I don’t think Death will give you your son back any time soon! Haha!” Aster smiled nervously. “Besides that they are unharmed, the flame brothers are a little roughed up, but nothing they aren’t used to, and I am fine.”

  
  


Gaster sighed in relief, turning back to look in front, not wanting to be rude, but even less wanting to crash the carriage into anything.

 

“I am so glad to hear that,” he called back, though.

 

He wasn’t surprised to hear Death was ‘smothering Sans in affection.’ He had expected something like this, the second he saw the protective response of him. Though hearing the other demon seemed to be on better terms again were very good news. Maybe that meant they’d get their trust back sooner than expected…


	33. fuck it im selfish

Thanks to Aster protecting them with a barrier and Gaster leading them quickly, they exited the forest in record time. Once Gaster deemed it safe enough to stop, he stopped by a stream.

 

Aster walked out the carriage to stretch his legs, Reaper passing him to go to the stream, jumping in with no hesitation. Hearth had to carefully move around a growling Death to get out the carriage, wanting to see the damage to their vehicle but having a hard time.

 

Death had to swipe Hearth with his tail to push him out the carriage, pulling Sans close to his person. But he deemed their spot to crowded and invasive so he dragged Sans out the carriage and a few feet away from everyone else.

 

Landing at the edge of the stream to paw the water and rub his wet paw on Sans, growling at him every so often. His face never calmed, stuck in a angry scowl, at least he licked at Sans’ hands when he saw bruises on the knuckles when Sans fell out the carriage. That thought actually made Death remember Sans fell on his back.

 

Turning the monster around and lifting his shirt, ignoring any complaining.

  
  


Sans huffed a bit at the rough manhandling, but let Death do as he wished, only protestating in form of telling Death he was ok, he was safe, he didn’t need to worry. But Sans didn’t struggle away. He didn’t try to turn around or get up.

 

Death wanted him this way. And Death had had it Sans’ way often enough, so it was only fair for Sans to be obedient now.

 

It was strange to watch from afar, though. Grillby was glancing from his spot next to Hearth over to the two mates, confused at first what was going on. But it didn’t seem unsafe, so… he didn’t think they had to step in…

  
  


Reaper had a few fish stabbed onto his tail, carefully walked towards his brother, not invading their space, but offering the fish. Death’s tail pierced the fish, pulling them out the hold of his brother’s tail before cooing in gratitude. Taking one into his mouth before moving his tail in front of Sans to take a fish.

 

Hearth noticed where this was going, and snorted into his hand. “Oh lord, please give Sans mercy, haha!” He leaned in to his brother, wanting to know if he saw what he saw as well, and Sans having to go through.

  
  


“Ohh  _ noo, _ ” Grillby practically groaned as he had to watch Sans pull a face at the raw fish he was being offered.

  
“dea- death, i  _ can’t _ eat raw meats,” Sans tried to remind him, but his voice was hesitant, like he didn’t want to upset the demon by disobeying. But he had already been lucky he hadn’t gotten sick from the last few times Death force-fed him raw meat, he was  _ sure _ raw fish wasn’t going to go as well.

  
  


“ate be’fer, eat.” Death pressed his tail closer to Sans’ mouth, the fish skewered wiggling weakly, trying desperately to get away.

 

Aster tapped Gaster’s shoulder lightly, and pointed to Sans and Death.

  
  


Gaster glanced over to where Aster was pointing, his stomach turning a little at the sight. “O-Oh dear…” And he was just about to step in to save his son from food poisoning, but Papyrus was already faster.

 

The young skeleton was in the water himself, holding a large, struggling fish close to his chest which he caught mostly by accident, and he glanced concerned to his brother. 

 

“DO YOU MIND IF WE COOK IT FIRST?” Papyrus asked the demon, looking at him softly, but not getting any closer, not sure if Death was already okay with people approaching them again. Probably not. “WE WILL GIVE IT BACK TO YOU, OF COURSE, SO YOU CAN FEED MY BROTHER! BUT IT IS PROBABLY BETTER IF WE COULD COOK IT FIRST!”

  
  


Death narrowed his sockets at the small monster, “why?” He did move the tail away from Sans’ face, but his arms was still holding Sans down to the ground.

  
  


“WELL… I DON’T KNOW HOW WELL HE CAN TAKE RAW FISH,” Papyrus admitted, sounding apologetic. “HE MIGHT GET FOOD POISONING! AND I REALLY DO NOT WANT MY BROTHER TO GET SICK… PLEASE?”

 

“pleaaase?” Sans chimed in, looking up to his mate with big eyes.

  
  


Death looked down at Sans with a disapproving look, but relented. “hurry up, mate needs ta eat.” He moved his tail to his own face, eating up two fishes that were still moving.

  
  


Papyrus face brightened. “THANK YOU!!!” He chirped, before quickly wading out of the river again. He handed the large fish to his father, Gaster feeling extremely proud of his son, both for catching a fish like that and also persuading Death to let them feed Sans something cooked.

 

Grillby and Hearth had moved on from examining the damaged carriage to starting a small fire for Gaster, though neither of them were taking over the duty of frying the still dripping fish over it, which Gaster took over gladly.

  
  


Death growled lowly at having to wait, instead occupying his time with eating the rest of the fish on his tail and finishing healing the wounds on Sans’ back with his tongue, sadly making Sans’ back smell like fish.

 

Aster held his hands out for Reaper to dump a few fish into his arms, letting him go back to the fire and give them to the others. “Reaper let me have his fish for the rest of us to eat, but I’m guessing Sans’ fish comes first, unless Death gets too impatient.”

  
  


Gaster nodded. “This one is almost done.” He glanced over to Reaper as he turned the fish a few times in the fire, giving the demon a grateful nod as well. “Thank you, we appreciate it a lot.”   
  
He summoned a small, sharp bone to cut the fish open, removing most of the bones, before cutting it into pieces for everyone, making the one he was going to give Death for Sans bigger than the others. “It’s done,” he said, turning slightly to the demon. “Should I… bring it to you…?”

  
  


The demon moved his sharp tail towards Gaster, the tip awaiting.

  
  


Gaster looked at it a bit confused at first, for a moment not sure what Death was expecting, before he finally figured it out. Right. He probably still didn’t want anyone coming close.

 

He stabbed the piece onto the tip of Death’s tail instead, making sure it wasn’t going to fall off, before letting go.

  
  


Death moved it gently towards Sans, pushing the monster on his back before the demon sat on his crotch with both legs ready to stand and pounce at any given time. His arms on both sides of Sans’ head, the tail tip coming between the small space between their bodies.

 

“eat.” Death commanded, glaring down at Sans like a mother would a child. His face said it all, ‘you aren’t getting away with this, relent.’

 

The fish was over Sans’ mouth, easily being able to open his mouth and bite the fish, or grab it on his own. But either way Sans has the fish, Death won’t let him get up or even stay far away from him.

 

Now Death was still mad at Sans, but the near death experience kind of dulled the rage, it was already hard staying mad at Sans. But to stay mad while being so glad he was here?

  
  


Sans hesitantly picked up the fish into his hands, taking a bite off of it. God. It was actually so good to eat something cooked again, after having to eat raw meat so often. There was no blood dripping down the corners of his mouth.

 

He actually finished the piece pretty fast and confidently this time, lying back with a content smile once he was done. “...thanks, lov-  _ death! _ ”

  
  


Death huffed, laying down on Sans now that Sans has eaten, his chin on Sans’ sternum. His wings were opened to cover Sans’ body as much as possible. But the glare didn’t leave him, frowning at Sans like he just had the worst day, but that didn’t last long, because Death’s body bounced slightly. A small sound coming from his mouth, then another one soon followed, then another, then another. Death’s body bouncing slightly every time.

 

The demon’s face went from annoyed to surprised, covering his mouth with one hand to make the hiccuping more quiet.

  
  


Sans looked up at the demon, eyes wide in surprise. Were those really… hiccups? Holy shit, he sounded  _ so adorable, _ Sans had to actually fight not squealing at the noise, nuzzling into his adorable mate.

 

He  _ still _ tried to respect any boundaries, even  _ if _ Death was…  _ still _ keeping him on the ground.

 

The thing was, though… with every one of Death’s hiccups, his body bounced a little. And with every bounce it’d rut a little into Sans’ pelvis and… It wasn’t like Sans  _ usually _ would be too bothered by it, he was used to dismissing unimportant friction in his pelvic area, having ridden horses with and without saddle, both trained and untrained.

 

But… Death… just seemed to make Sans feel squirmy. He was hitting a weird angle that was making Sans feel more and more hotter with every little bounce, causing magic to slowly seep into his pants.

 

“d-death…,” he squeaked out quietly. “can y’ please… g-get off…”

  
  


Death looked down at him and growled, it was stopped midway by a hiccup. His teeth were still barred, wings folding over his head to give him bigger mass, thus, more intimidating. His hands going to each of Sans’ shoulders to keep him down. “mine.”

 

But his body weight did lessen from Death moving his body a bit higher, still touching, but still hovering over the monster instead of laying on him completely.

  
  


It still was so much better for Sans, the small movements no longer feeling like he was rutting into him. He was still left feeling slightly hotter, face probably flushed a little and his pelvis very close to forming a small bulge, and Death still hovering over him so close wasn’t exactly helping with that.

 

But it wasn’t like Sans could go anyways, and neither did he really  _ want _ to. So he relented, nodding up at Death as he replied quietly, “yours…”

  
  


Death grinned, the hand tapping on the mark on Sans’ neck, “fer o’der me ta know yer  **_mine_ ** .” Death growled, thankfully his hiccups went away quickly. Death going back to resting on Sans, his forehead laying on Sans’.

 

“yer stuck as  _ my  _ mate. mine alone.” Death giggled evilly, licking his teeth with a madding smile, the shadows making his face more menacing, yet still smug.

  
  


Fuck, right. The mark. He was  _ marked _ now, the same way as Death was, for everyone to see. The thought sent a shiver down Sans’ spine, a good one. He  _ wanted _ them to know.  _ Wanted  _ to belong to Death, be his at least just as much as Death belonged to Sans.

 

“i  _ wanna _ be y’r mate.  _ forever, _ ” Sans breathed out, eyes barely open as he leaned into him some more.

  
  


“sure don’ mind o’der me too, huh?  _ prefer  _ em most likely.” Death spat, glaring at Sans as much as he can with the little distance they had.

  
  


The accusation hurt Sans deeply, feeling like he had betrayed Death, but… he  _ hadn’t, _ had he? He didn’t  _ think _ he had…

 

“death, there’s… there ain’t no  _ other _ you. ‘s jus’ you and… you before y’... g-got  _ hurt. _ ” He was careful with his voice, anxious, not wanting to mess something up again. He put his arms around Death, slightly, gently enough for Death to easily shake him off would he not want him touching him.

  
“i don’ prefer him. i love  _ you. _ i’m  _ your _ mate. not c-comic’s, not death’s.  _ yours. _ th’  _ whole _ you.”

  
  


Death didn’t say anything, didn’t know what to say to that. He could already feel his face burning, and his arms shaking. So he did the only other thing he could do when he didn’t want Sans to win an argument. Flop down on Sans, and hide his face in Sans’ neck in embarrassment. 

 

“shud up, yer not allowed ta speak no more.” Death squeaked, curling up on Sans while his wings beated quickly.

  
  


Sans flushed the smallest bit at Death’s tone, not having expected that kind of reaction. He… wasn’t sure  _ what  _ reaction he had expected, but it wasn’t this, wasn’t Death actually hiding his face in his neck.

 

“kay,” Sans replied quietly, smiling a little at the reaction, actually staying quiet after that.

  
  


Death didn’t say anything for a few minutes, only frowning into the others chest. But after a while he did speak, and it was quiet and soft and all out timid. It would have sounded exactly like Comic if not for the demonic tint to it.

 

“really…..ya mean dat...?”

  
  


Sans hummed both a bit surprised as well as confused at the question. “‘course i do,” he told him, softly and quietly. Truth be told, Sans wasn’t sure what exactly he was referring to, which part, but… 

 

Sans wasn’t lying to him or making things up. Not about any of it. So… yea. Yea he did mean that.

  
  


“o’der me not better? ‘m good enough?” Death muttered, moving away to look Sans in the face, he no longer scolded or frowned at Sans, now he, he just looked tired. His wings laying on their bodies, while Death’s tail also went more shallow, both to fit his mood.

  
  


“death, he’s not… better or worse than you,” Sans assured him, holding the demon’s eye contact with soft eyes. “‘s just  _ you, _ you but with… some different experiences…” 

 

There were differences between them, yes. But it had  _ still _ been Death even when he went by Comic. He could still sense the demon he knew inside him, could still see the little things that made him  _ him. _

 

“y’re more than good enough, love,” Sans finally breathed out. “y’re… great and strong an’ my mate. my only mate. the person i  _ gave _ myself to.”

  
  


Death looked at him with wonder, before hugging Sans close, his tail wagging wildly and his wings flapping twice. He started to lick up Sans’ face all over, before hiding his face back into Sans’ neck.

 

“no! mine! not o’der me’!  _ mine _ !” Completely ignoring what Sans said about loving him and not what he currently was, choosing the selfish route.

  
  
“same person,” Sans reminded him, gently kissing the parts of Death’s skull he could reach to get him back for licking up his face. Though he didn’t complain more. Comic was… gone anyways… The spell hadn’t worked and they knew now that the demons didn’t  _ want _ to be turned back, so at least  _ Sans _ wasn’t going to let it happen again.


	34. demon leach

The plan was to go a long route with as few people living there as possible. Which was easy enough, letting the demons have their leg room. Except only Reaper was having some leg room, Death was stuck on Sans’ side 24/7. Sans could not go anywhere without Death attached to him someway somehow. Either Death was attached to his back like a demon backpack, or he demanded Sans carry him, or just force Sans to the ground and lay on him.

 

For days now, Death didn’t let Sans out of his sight, nor has any of the others able to get close to them, getting a furious hiss or a growl that would turn to a unholy roar if they got even closer. When Sans was sitting, Death would lay on his lap, and even hiss at  _ Sans _ angrily if the monster got up to leave, wrapping his tail around him and pulling him back towards the demon.

  
  


Sans didn’t mind it too much, though, and he wasn’t very good at hiding it either. He was smiling brightly most of the time, willingly sticking around his mate at all times, where he could make sure he was safe and Death could make sure he was safe.

 

He hadn’t realized just  _ how much _ he had missed Death, just  _ how much _ it had messed him up. But now that he wasn’t so angry at him more, Sans felt… light. Lucky. Happy as all hell.

  
  


The rest of the group was still recovering from the bandit attack that took place a few days ago. Hearth shook in place every so often, like he suddenly can’t control his temperature and grows cold, even when he’s not. Spacing out while looking at a random direction while his fists would squeeze his arms, he also didn’t sleep much.

 

Aster on the other hand, didn’t seem that affected, mostly ignoring what happened and pretending like everything was fine. Often times when the attack is brought up, he looked surprised and confused, like he forgot it  _ happened _ . Until realization kicked in and he looked away, getting colder for a hour or two before going back to nothing ever happening. 

  
  


Though it didn’t come up very often. Gaster avoided the topic like the plague. He knew what happened was necessary, was self defense, but he still wasn’t happy about it. About losing control to his anger.

 

He had sworn to only use his powers for good, and yes. Fighting - and maybe even killing - those bandits had been something they needed to do to protect themselves, their group and family, and get away. But it still nagged on his conscience.

 

Grillby didn’t bring it up a lot either, if at all. In his whole life, in the church and on his travel, Grillby has never quite seen murder this gruesome. This violent and brutal.

 

He’s seen dead people. He’s seen his village destroyed and lifeless. But seeing people getting torn apart, killed, blown up… It was different. It was stronger, leaving a mark, leaving a  _ scar. _

 

Those people died. People like him, like his brother, like Sans and his family, like Aster. Murdered. Brutally, painfully.

 

Did they deserve it? Maybe. They were endangering them, were endangering Sans and Papyrus.

 

But… did any person  _ actually _ deserve death?

 

It was too late to change anything now, though, so Grillby resorted in trying not to think about it, talk about it, not bring it up.

 

The only times it was  _ really _ mentioned was when Papyrus talked about it, voice weak, eyes watery, and he was so glad he was alive. So happy, so lucky. But he couldn’t get the pictures out of his head. Couldn’t close his eye sockets at night without seeing the gore. 

 

It wouldn’t let him go, and part of Papyrus thought that’s what they deserved. For taking this many lives. They at least should carry the weight of it, should remember it.

 

But it was… still weighing him down so much.

  
  


Reaper often times just threw Papyrus on his back and ran, showing him a nice field or running in a low stream. Grooming him like Death did to Sans when he got dirty, Reaper would sometimes whimper to get Papyrus’ attention to distract him, and even sleep with him.

 

Sans slept either on the roof of the carriage thanks to Death, and it looks like Papyrus is now starting to follow the trend. Getting dragged around by a demon, but Reaper was not doing it for love interest or for mates, it was a friend trying to distract and comfort a soft souled friend. 

 

The only one that seemed to be completely okay and even happy, was Sans. Having Death on him the whole time, your mate, one would bound to get a little handsy. When ever that happened, Death would suddenly open his wings and fly them away, not even bothering telling the others where they were going. At least the rest of the group weren’t to overly worried and let them be, they always came back the same day.

 

This only happened twice so far, with Death being mostly alert the whole time, he swiftly took Sans like it was a mission. Finding a place they could be alone and mostly ride Sans, the thought of Sans being on top with his back to the world scared the demon, so Death was over or covering Sans in someway. Even pushing Sans to a corner and sitting on his lap, and ride his monster lover like that, letting his own back be the only opening.

 

Death always went hard and fast, to finish Sans off as quick as possible. Don’t get him wrong, he loved to please his mate, but being out in the open ready to be attacked didn’t sit well for the demon. When they were not having sex Death was  _ still  _ on alert, if he deemed it safe, which wasn’t often, he would groom and perm Sans in the meantime. Oddly enough Death always seemed to be in a sour mood, not exactly mad at anyone, not even Sans anymore, but just in general. 

 

Maybe it was just him being alert, but he always sweetly took care of Sans with that frown on his face. It was odd seeing it, a frowning demon cuddling and licking and generally holding Sans tight like a teddy bear. But the frown really got serious when he looked at his surroundings, his tail up high in alert and his body tense. This was how everyone found out Death was not mad, just being alert and careful, and somehow that’s where the frown was coming from.

  
  


Sans embarrassingly, though, took a bit longer than most of them to notice. He’s been up in his own clouds, giddy and happy about being able to be with Death again, about Death being so clingy, possessive, taking control, that he hadn’t even noticed how tense he was most of the time.

 

But once he did… he got softer. 

 

He wasn’t getting as handsy anymore, he loved Death fucking him silly in a corner, but it always was over so quick, leaving Sans feeling like there was something missing. Like it wasn’t as special. He… wanted to leave getting frisky for the times they  _ both _ wanted it.

 

Instead Sans was giving him soft kisses, gently petting and cuddling Death whenever he could, the same way he seemed to be grooming him. He  _ tried _ to assure Death that he was safe, that he didn’t need to worry about him as much, but he wasn’t pushing the topic too much.

 

Maybe he just… needed time. To calm down.

  
  


It took a bit on Sans’ part until Death started to give in into the pets and kisses, sinking into Sans whenever he gave the demon attention. Making the demon groan softly in bliss. Slowly, Sans managed to wind Death down, finally erasing that frown on his face and make the demon relax. 

 

Death was still on alert sometimes, but otherwise he let Sans walk around again, but still staying by his side. Even dragging Sans onto his back and running through streams or fields and even to catch some pray like Reaper would do with Papyrus.

 

Death looked up from the petting Sans was giving him, the monster was leaning on a tree with Death curled up on his lap. Death stared at the hand petting him softly, licking it when it got close to his face. He hasn’t been talking nearly at all since he forgave Sans, these being his first words after days of silence. 

 

“love…..ya….” The demon was sure he got that right, but he looked away anyways, hiding his face into Sans’ stomach, his tail flicking from side to side nervously.

  
  


Sans held himself back from squealing at the small words, instead humming appreciatively, continuing to pet Death. “i love you too, death,” he whispered out close to the other’s skull, before peppering it with kisses, saying, “muah,” out loud every once in a while.

  
  


Death cuddled up to Sans and purred softly, his tail now wagging widely at the affection freely given to him. The demon even gave him a few licks of his own, or kisses for demons, to show his affection as well.

  
  


Sans only stopped once he saw Papyrus watching the two of them slightly abashed, raising up to look back at him. “‘ey bro,” Sans said surprised.

 

“HELLO BROTHER!!! AM I INTERRUPTING???” Papyrus asked, looking flustered or embarrassed like he had caught the two during an intimate moment.

 

“nah, ‘s alright. you ok, bro?” Sans asked, his tone so much softer and so much more relaxed than it had been in a long time.

 

“YES!!! HEARTH AND GRILLBY PREPARED FOOD, WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US???”

 

With Death having been so protective for so long, it had been hard for Sans to spend time with his family, with the others at all. And he  _ loved _ Death, loved his attention and being close to him, but… Sans started to miss his brother and the rest of them, even if they were always still close.

 

He glanced down at the demon in his lap, eyes soft. “what d’ you say? wanna join ‘em?”

  
  


Death looked at the hopeful look of Papyrus’ face, then at Sans, nodding softly. He pushed himself more up, to be laying more on Sans, before wrapping his arms and legs around Sans’ neck and waist. Yes Sans is allowed to get up and be with the others, but like hell Death was going to let go, the feeling of Sans in danger still present.

  
  


Sans huffed, but chuckled a bit as Death simply clung to him. Honestly… what else had he expected?

 

He got up with the demon in his arms, heavy, but after Death clinging to him in various ways so often lately, he was sort of used to it.

 

“we’ll join,” Sans told Papyrus with a bright smile, Papyrus brightening up as well.

 

“THAT’S GREAT!!! ME AND REAPER CAUGHT SOME FISH TO EAT!!!” The young skeleton chirped excitedly. 

 

They arrived at the campfire together, Gaster seeming surprised and relieved to see the two again, and Grillby looking… surprisingly happy.

 

“It’s so cool to have you here again,” he said, his voice almost sounding like one of an excited child, though more calmer, held back Like the Grillby version of an excited child.

 

“d’aww, missed us?” Sans cooed as he sat down by the fire with Death still in his arms.

  
  


“It seems my son is still clinging to you though…” Aster mused, looking at the demon latched onto Sans like a leach. Reaper was besides Sans in a second, cooing at his brother. Making the smaller one relax his grip on Sans to click and coo at Reaper happily. 

 

Hearth chuckled, grinning up at Sans with a relaxed air to him. “Would of thought you two had molded together at this point.” Aster smiling softly at the tease, nodding in agreement.

  
  


“damn! they’ve looked through our plan,” Sans quipped, quickly pulling his hood over his head. “quick, create a diversion!” And then he just bent down, burying his face into Death so he was almost in a ball, pretending that if Sans couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see him either.

  
  


Death looked at Sans confused before just flapping his wings, making both him and Sans fall back from the cut down tree trunk they were on, actually disappearing from everyone’s view besides Sans’ legs and Death’s tail.

 

Reaper sniffing at them to know what was going on.

 

Aster and Hearth broke out laughing at their silliness, after everyone being so tense and on edge, a moment of silliness was appreciated. 

  
  


The others were laughing as well, Papyrus a bit surprised and startled when they actually fell off the tree trunk, but once he saw Sans laughing himself he relaxed. It was nice having his brother back with them again, they had all missed him.

 

Gaster had told the others to give them space for now, to let the two rekindle, sort their things out and calm down, but… it hadn’t been exactly easy. Papyrus had been with his brother his whole life, having to be away from him... Even if he was  _ still _ close, it was still almost like he  _ wasn’t _ with Papyrus being practically unable to approach him and… it felt lonely.

 

Gaster hadn’t been a lot better off either, worried for his son, wishing he knew what him and the demon were up to more. It wasn’t like he didn’t trust them. It was just that after displays like the last few ones, after seeing Death as protective as he had been, he was fearing they would let their mate instincts grow to their heads and elope completely.

 

He… was so incredibly glad that wasn’t the case.

 

And Grillby. Grillby hadn’t even been aware on just how much he would miss them. Both of them. Sometimes he wouldn’t see the two all day, them spending most of their time farther off, and Grillby having to go to hunt and patrol not making things easier. He had missed them, missed hearing them, missed watching their odd antics…

 

Sans was cuddling Death close as he got them both up again, sitting back onto his spot. “so… food?”

  
  


Death perked up at the word, looking around excitedly, his body moving around restlessly. That’s when Reaper came in to drag a huge catfish to his brother, the smaller one sliding down until he was laying his stomach on Sans’ lap, grabbing the fish and tearing into it with no delay.

 

Aster held out a plate with a slab of cooked fish and sliced apple on it. “Here, eat up.”

  
  


Sans was leaning with his elbows slightly on Death’s back, trying not to rest too much weight onto him, but it was hard to get comfortable otherwise. “thanks,” he hummed towards Aster as he gladly accepted a plate and dug in.

 

Since they were all gathered together now, Gaster mused, thinking it was a good time to make some plans. “...Aster, do you believe now would be a good time to move on to some more… inhabited places? Find some farms to help your sons interact with people…?”

  
  


“I think… so… Everything looks to be back to normal.” Aster nodded as his sockets swept through the group. “Are you all ready to head to more populated areas?” He asked everyone, glancing at his sons and hoping they would answer too.

 

Reaper huffed lightly, before laying his head on Papyrus’ lap. Death just looking like he heard nothing, his head  _ inside  _ the catfish, ripping and munching heard from inside.

 

Hearth was the first one to actually reply, “I think we are, are we going today or tomorrow?”

  
  


“Tomorrow,” Gaster decided. “And we should still try to stay off much populated areas and look for smaller ones. Maybe we’ll find some farms close by…”   
  
“bandits scared ‘way all farmers,” Sans piped in casually. “‘s what i heard. moved farther off to a small village, around it. ‘s not too far off, though, an’ the farms should be apart far enough t’ have half to a day of travelin’ between them, so still little population as long as we stray off the actual village.”   
  
Gaster was surprised at the reply, not having expected his son to be this well informed. Though he glanced at Papyrus who didn’t seem surprised at all and… Gaster realized he should’ve figured he was.

 

Sans knew more about traveling and any areas in reach than he let on, having been the one to lead his journey with Papyrus the whole time. He hadn’t been everywhere yet of course, hadn’t even been to half of the places he  _ knew _ of. But traveling from town to town made one meet other travelers, made one learn from their experiences.

  
  


“That is quite a bit of knowledge you have,“ Aster mused, narrowing his sockets at Sans suspiciously. “If you knew about the bandits, why didn’t you say something about them sooner, the whole situation could of been avoided.”

 

If the whole thing could have been avoided, then no one would have died, none of them would be dealing with deaths on their hands. It seems ironic that the only one not grieving about the deaths of the bandits is the only one who could have avoided it. Thanks to the attack, Death is now clinging to Sans like a koala, making Sans beam for days.

  
  


Sans looked up at Aster surprised, suddenly realizing he… sort of gave himself away, even though he hadn’t been actively  _ hiding _ it. He should’ve. And… he  _ should’ve _ let them know, should’ve avoided this… whole situation.

 

They wouldn’t have gotten hurt had he told them. Wouldn’t have that hole in their carriage. Wouldn’t have had to  _ kill _ the bandits. But… he hadn’t told them. Hadn’t let anyone know. He couldn’t even entirely remember  _ why. _

 

“i… uh…” What was he supposed to tell them? Was he gonna lie and come up with some kind of excuse? 

 

But it turns out Sans didn’t even  _ have _ to come up with anything, because Gaster already was replying for him.

 

“Please, he couldn’t have possibly known they were still here,” Gaster argued with Aster. “I am sure he just assumed they had moved on. It makes sense they would have.”

  
  


Aster hummed in thought, but still looked unconvinced. If the villagers were scared off to make new farms away from the forest, and not come back to expand, then the bandits were still here. There was no reason in any of what Sans said that made it seem the bandits moved. Hell, Sans even talked like it was their land, their turf. 

 

So Gaster’s explanation didn’t make sense, but he left it be. What was done was done, and there is no point in finding out if Sans knew or not, not that Aster wanted to push it. Gaster might get very defensive and maybe even offended that Aster would blame Sans for this. For tons of deaths, of course Gaster wouldn’t want Sans to take that on.

 

“Alright….” He muttered, his eyes wandering downwards to think, but from looking down from Sans’ face, Aster saw his own son head deep in a catfish's back, his whole head out of view and the skin and flesh mostly gone. Yes, his demon son that killed way more than Sans will ever will.

 

Maybe it really was a good idea that he shut up.

  
  


“So… The farms are around the village,” Gaster mused, getting an affirmative nod from Sans. “We should stay off the village and seek off those farms… does that sound good?”   
  
“sounds fine by me,” Sans replied with a shrug, Grillby giving him a nod too.

 

“As long as we stay far away for the village, it sounds like a good plan.”

  
  


Reaper didn’t really look like he was paying attention, mostly laying ontop of Papyrus and munching on Papyrus’ piece of fish that he stole. Growling lowly after he finished, looking very pleased with himself.

 

It seemed like both demons didn’t care about plans again, because Death was all done with his catfish and already wiggling in Sans’ lap, restless to move around. But leaving Sans seemed like to much, so he just wiggled around side to side like he was a sort of worm or snake.

 

Hearth was sadly on the side Death was shaking his butt on, so when he looked over to Death he had a hard time not reaching over and dragging Death to him and sticking something in that butt to make the demon squirm more.

  
  


Sans was done with his own fish as well, placing the plate down to his side, so he could pay more attention to the demon wiggling in his lap, gently petting him on his back. It wasn’t until he saw Hearth from the corner of his eyes that Sans noticed the elemental practically… drooling at his mate, staring at him.

 

“‘e’s  _ mine, _ ” Sans hissed lowly under his breath, not even quite sure if the other monster had heard him. But even if he hadn’t, Sans made it clear by putting his arms around the demon and pulling him as close as he could, one arm on Death’s butt to cover it up from Hearth’s stare.

  
What was fucking  _ up _ with those elementals? Death  _ wasn’t _ on the fucking market.

  
  


Hearth snapped out of it the second Sans covered up Death’s bum, making the demon squirm even more and being surrounded, making little whines of complaint to his mate.

 

The flame looked away like nothing happened, pretending like he did not just get caught by Sans staring at that nice demon ass wiggling in discomfort. How lovely it would look wiggling as it tried to take in his big flaming hot cock, the whimpers make Hearth buck into him harder. Death letting the tears spill from his sockets and with the cutest expression to being taken. Like his own little bitch screaming for him, only more animal like, and oh so sexy.

 

Hearth had only turned enough to the side, bis hand coming over his mouth to hide the big wide grin on his face, the nose bleed spilling down his chin.

 

The demon didn’t even notice Hearth at all, only looked up and whined at Sans, wiggling around in his grip, silent plea to get up and go do something, something with movement, like running or catching more fish.

  
  


Sans was loosening his hold on Death a little, deciding to leave Hearth off with a glare, even  _ if _ he could see that smug grin on his face, the light bulge in his pants… Death was more important right now.

 

“you ok, love?” He asked slightly concerned as he heard him whine at him, wiggling a little.

 

“I THINK HE NEEDS TO MOVE SOME, SANS!!! YOU’VE BEEN LYING AROUND ALMOST ALL DAY,” Papyrus chimed in, and Sans glanced from his brother back to Death. It was true, they had spent most of their time lying and cuddling, and Death was usually a pretty active demon.

  
  


Death cooed at Sans’ younger brother before wiggling harder, enough that he fell off Sans’ lap entirely. Getting up quickly and pulling at Sans’ cloak with his teeth, whining at him softly.

  
  


Sans was chuckling surprised, but got up as well to follow his mate. “a’right, a’right, ‘m comin’,” he said amused.

 

Grillby watched them both leave the campfire, before glancing to his brother. Sans wasn’t the only one who had noticed what was going on, at least by the time Hearth was covering up his grin, looking lost in his own world with blood ever so slowly dripping off his chin.

  
“...Decency, man,” he grumbled quietly under his breath, not sure how he felt about his brother lusting after the very same  _ mated _ demon Grillby was lusting after himself.


	35. death likes sans' stick

Once they walked a few feet, Death ran around Sans like he was chasing his own tail, then stopping and leaning on his leg to whine. Energetic for once and every body part moving constantly, looking up at Sans expectantly. 

  
  


Sans was watching the demon run around him, but wasn’t sure what to do when he eventually whined up at him. He was obviously expecting something, but what? What do you do with extra energetic demons…?

 

But he remembered seeing people with their restless dogs, throwing objects for them to bring back… Would Death like that? Not that his beautiful mate was a dog, but he  _ did _ want to move around, so…

 

So he picked up the closest stick he could fine, a thick one, but still light enough to easily throw, showing it to Death a bit nervously. “y’ wanna play a bit?”

  
  


Death dropped down almost immediately, his bottom half in the air, tail up in alert and butt in the air. His paws out in front of him on the ground, his head so close the ground itself that his chin almost touched. Death looked excited and ready, eyeing the stick like it was a prize.

  
  


Sans grinned at his mate at the reaction, waving the stick a little now to tease him. “ok then!” He chirped happily, lifting his arm to toss it. “fetch!” He threw the stick as far as he could for the demon to chase after it.

  
  


Death bolted right after it sooner than he could prepare his body, stumbling on his legs like a baby giraffe learning to walk, each of his legs hitting each other to turn quickly in the right direction to get the stick. Thankfully Death managed to correct himself after a few steps when heading to the right direction, and ran like a bullet. His wings mostly half folded and used as a sort of balance to not tilt to one side.

  
  


Sans actually burst out laughing when he saw his mate stumble off like that, but kept watching him curiously and adoringly. He just looked too cute stumbling, and he hadn’t quite expected Death to actually react this positively to him throwing the stick.

  
  


Death came back in no time to run head first into Sans’ chest, his horns missed piercing Sans’ chest only by inches. Death knocked Sans to the ground and spit the stick on Sans’ face, licking his face up excitedly and wiggling his butt as he waited for Sans to throw the stick again.

  
  


Grillby watched as Sans played with Death, unable to hold back a small chuckle when he saw the demon bodyslam Sans to the ground. The skeleton was struggling to get up with Death still on him, unable to throw the stick while he was lying with his back on the ground, but Death didn’t stop licking his face.

 

“death!” The skeleton laughed out. “c’mon man, i can’t toss like that!” He weakly tried to throw it anyway, but only got as far as for it to land on the demon’s back.

  
  


The stick went between two bones on Death’s back, making it get stuck in place. Death jumped back and tried to grab it, he felt it! He just couldn’t get to it, so he rolled around and ran in circles to get it, his movements so clumsy and hilarious it was hard not to just let him suffer and watch. Death was moving side to side trying and failing to grab it with his hands or mouth, looking like a fish out of water, twisting and turning. It was even better that Death kept the excitement, still energetic to get the stick, and even determined.

  
  


Sans couldn’t even help his mate. Oh god, he wanted to, he wanted to help him, but Christ, he was lying on the ground laughing until his stomach hurt, tears running down his face. Every time he thought he had gotten himself together and tried to stand up again to go up to Death and help him, he saw his demon flailing and just broke  _ again. _

 

In the end it was Grillby who got up with a small sigh, trying to suppress his own amused chuckle. He couldn’t keep letting the demon suffer like that, so he struggled a bit to pick him up, before he finally got his arms around him.

  
“Let me help you with that,” he hummed, letting his hand trail over Death’s back to find the stick.

  
  


Death didn’t really care about Grillby, he just wanted the fucking stick! Moving his head from side to side when he couldn’t reach it, wiggling in Grillby’s hold like a fish being pulled from the water and being held. His tail and wings failing around more wildly than his own body.

  
  


It was then that Sans actually stopped laughing, rousing from his spot with a death glare. “don’t  _ touch _ my fuckin’ mate,” he growled at him aggressively.

 

“I’m just trying to  _ help _ him!” The flame argued, but Sans was having none of it, marching up to him with so much aggression in his walk, that Grillby handed Death over as soon as the skeleton reached them, realizing Sans was not fucking around.

 

“do  _ not _ forget ‘e’s  _ mine, _ ” Sans hissed, holding Death close of the chest as he found the stick himself, despite the struggling, pulling it out before he let his mate down again. “there y’ go,” he cooed at Death then, finally  _ actually _ giving it a toss.

  
  


Death dived off after it, leaving the flame and the skeleton talk their…. conversation? Death had jumped when Sans threw the stick, the stick going a few ways before disappearing behind a log. Death was planning to jump over the log, but timed it wrong due to his excitement, hitting his back legs on the fallen trunk of the tree and flipping the yelping demon over before he too, disappeared behind the log. Hearth and Aster snorting from the side lines, it really was really amusing seeing the normally calm or grumpy demon act so childlike and…. just excited.

  
  


Sans was watching after the demon, snorting out a surprised laugh as he saw him flip over the trunk, disappearing behind it. “deathh nooo,” he cooed concerned, though he couldn’t keep the amusement from his voice, hurrying after him to see if he was alright.

 

Before Sans made it to the log, Death jumped over it with the stick in his mouth, looking proud. Strutting over to Sans and giving him the stick like it was treasure. 

 

Reaper was watching from the side lines, clearly amused with the whole scene and panting slightly, having a good time getting a belly rub from Papyrus.

  
  


Giggling lightly Sans accepted the stick back, grinning at his so proud looking mate to give him a few soft pets and a kiss to his forehead. “great job, love,” he cooed still laughing as he lifted his arm again, waving the stick over the demon’s head, before giving it another toss.

 

He wasn’t even thinking where he threw it, but it ended up flying towards the rest of the group, over Reaper and Papyrus, until it landed into a very distracted Gaster’s arms. The warlock looked up surprised, first glancing at the stick, before he looked to Sans.

  
“Sans… why are you throwing sticks at me?”

  
  


The moment the stick flew over Reaper, the demon went to attention and scrambled up to his feet and run for it. Death right behind him, both demons moving like a bullet, bulldozing into Gaster like a pile of fast bricks, eyes set on the stick in his arms.

 

Hearth burst out laughing, the laugh turning more like a wheeze as he saw  _ both  _ demons ram into the warlock like a hammer, he heard Aster gasp beside him, his mouth agasp and sockets wide.

  
  


Gaster yelped startled as he fell back, the two demons now on him with their eyes focused on the stick.    
  
“OH NO, DAD, ARE YOU OKAY???” Papyrus asked concerned, but he couldn’t help the small smile on his face, Gaster looking towards his son shocked, like he’s just seen his life pass before his eyes.

 

“What… just happened…?” Apparently he hadn’t noticed anything of Sans throwing sticks for Death  _ at all. _

 

Sans was still on his spot where he had thrown the stick from, crouching down as he was crying of laughter, wheezing from it.

  
  


Death and Reaper fought over the stick, both having one side of the stick until it broke in half. Only then the two demons stopped and stared at the stick, letting it go and just watching lay on the ground, broken.

 

Death’s face was heart broken, while Reaper was more upset about the situation about having no stick. Grumbling lowly, before slinking over to Papyrus again, sadly Death didn’t. Death couldn’t go back to his mate without the stick, and the stick is ruined…

 

The demon only looked back at Sans sadly, completely forgetting he was on a very confused Gaster.

  
  


Sans was d’aww’ing sadly as he saw Death looking back at him, but still losing his shit laughing. “aww, ‘s ok,” he cooed at him, “we can find another stick.”

  
  


Death perked up at the idea, looking around to find a replacement, before looking down. Gaster was made of white sticks, those were good enough. That was the logic of a demon, as he grabbed Gaster by the leg with his mouth, dragging him over to Sans. Once he dragged Gaster over to Sans’ feet, he let Gaster go and looked up at Sans proudly, expectantly. 

  
  


“O-Oh!” Gaster said surprised, lying on the floor before Sans. “No, what is going on!?”

 

Sans couldn’t even answer him, he was lying on the floor now, holding his stomach as he couldn’t stop his laughter. “nooo,” he cried out in between his wheezing laughs. “noooo, deathhh, my dad’s not a stick.”

 

Grillby was still close to them, holding back his chuckle as he came over to help Gaster up from the ground. “I am so sorry, sir,” he said, though it only sounded half genuine with the amusement still dripping from his voice.

 

Gaster still seemed mostly just surprised as he dusted the dirt off of him. “It… is alright? Did I miss something?”

  
  


Death grabbed Gaster by the cape, pulling him back down before the warlock can even acknowledge what was happening. Jumping on top of Gaster and sniffing at his face, giving a small lick on his nose. The best part was that Death made a silly face at Gaster once he did, almost like he was mocking the warlock for easily being put down again.

 

Aster laughing wildly farther away, calling out little teases towards the warlock.

  
  


“Death! Please!” Gaster complained once he was on the ground again, trying to peel the demon off of him. 

 

“oh my god,” Sans wheezed out as he watched them, but he decided to show his father some mercy, picking Death up and pulling him away from Gaster. “c’mon don’t torture dad. y’ wanna real stick, not a stick in the mud like him, yea?”   
  
“Excuse me?” Gaster replied offended as he got off the ground again.

  
  


Death stuck his tongue out in reply, squirming in Sans’ grasp before he was let go. Running over to where he dragged Gaster from and came make with a long staff in his mouth, giving it to Sans and waiting expectantly once again.

  
  


“welp, that’s a stick alright,” Sans replied, simply accepting their fate now. He took the staff from Death while Gaster was still distracted. The warlock only noticed what was going on when Sans already tossed the staff into a nearby river.

 

“ _ Sans what are you doing!? _ ” He screeched terrified, as he already dashed after the staff himself.

  
  


But Death was faster, bolting right past him to dive into the river, disappearing in the murkier water.

 

The demon swam through the water, not really able to see, but he did know the current, and how heavy the staff is. So he had an idea of where it could of gone, but once he actually spotted the dark staff in the light brownish beige surroundings. Only to see it get eaten by a  _ very  _ big catfish, only that was freakishly big, bigger than Death himself. 

 

Looks like Death was going hunting….

 

Reaper in the meantime only watched the river surface break, a lot of splashing happening, but too deep into the water to actually tell what’s going on. All he knew was Death is in the water and is around the fight or is even the cause of the fight and there are really big fish in those rivers.

 

Death was most likely fighting one of them.

  
  


“oh fuck,” Sans breathed out, suddenly regretting his decision of just blindly throwing the stick away. He ran towards the edge of the river, watching his father helplessly wade through the river, through it was too deep for him to even get very far at all.

 

“Sans, why would you do this!?” He asked, absolutely shocked.

  
“‘m sorry! i didn’t mean to throw it in the  _ river! _ ” Sans whined back. “‘m sure death’s gonna get it back!” He  _ could _ see the disruption in the water where Death most likely was, though it looked like there was more going on than just him fetching the staff…

  
  


Reaper had enough and dived into the water, swimming to the fight going on in the river. The splashing started getting bigger tenfold once Reaper joined into whatever fight was going on.

 

Hearth and Grillby stayed away from the actual water, watching at a safe distance. Aster had his staff ready just in case he realize the situation got out of control.

 

Now Death was at a disadvantage, being in water, that is most definitely not his element, but is for the fish. Having no body mass to fight in this type of environment, and the fish does, and more importantly, the fish was bigger not only in mass, but in size. Yes, Death had claws and wings and a sharp tail, but when you can’t see anything and the fish itself sees through it’s sensors. Death is clearly at a disadvantage. 

 

Don’t get him wrong, Death is strong and can manage himself, but when Reaper joined the fight, Death would of let out a breath of relief if he could. Together, both demon managed to drag the fish out, pushing it far from the water enough so it won’t flop back.

  
  


“No,” Gaster said, confused and scared. “No, no, where’s my staff!?”

 

Even Sans was confused by the outcome, walking up to Death, though still staying far enough off the fish to not end up between it’s teeth. “you ok?” He asked his mate concerned, feeling him over for any injuries. “where’s the stick? did ‘y get it…?”

 

He  _ really _ regretted throwing the staff now…

  
  


Thankfully Death had no injuries, but with him and his brother, they were able to snap to big fishes neck, only then Death went to the mouth and reached in, pulling out a long staff and putting it in his mouth proudly, looking at Sans like he wanted to see his face, his reaction, to what he accomplished.

  
  


Sans…  _ really _ hadn’t expected that, wow. But when he watched the stick, dripping from both river water as well as the fish’s blood, he felt so much pride for his mate. His mate who not just followed the stick into the  _ water, _ but also slayed a giant fish to get it.

 

But before Sans could even react, Gaster did, reaching out for the staff hastily as he gasped out a relieved, “Thank god!”

  
  


But Death backed up, growling playfully, tail wagging happily. He went down on his stomach, before running off with the staff in his mouth, jumping up and down almost like he was hopping around to get Gaster's attention and tease him to give chase. 

  
  


“No, no, no, Death, please!” Gaster whines, already running after the demon. “Please, that is my ancient staff, it’s very delicate!”

 

This time Sans actually ran after them as well, cursing a quiet, “oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” under his breath as he tried to run after his mate to stop him. “death, c’mon! bring me back the stick!” He tried desperately, unsure if Death would still listen when he was already running so excitedly.

  
  


Death took off, his wings lifting his body from the ground to sail through the air, turning in the air to pass the two skeletons. He moved the staff to his hand, holding it tight in his grip while he stuck his tongue out at them all. The top of the staff sparking with magic for a second before a beam shot from it, black and dark and oh so twisted. It hit the river, making a big splash, a medium sized fish flying out the river, landing near Papyrus. 

 

Death slowly flew to the ground, looking like he was caught doing something bad. Looking at the staff with wide wonder filled sockets, curious of what he just did, and how he can do it again. 

 

It was fun…. 

  
  


Papyrus made a startled noise, scooting away from the fish, before a burst of fire hit it, followed by Grillby coming closer with a long sigh. They were going to have a lot of fish for the next few days.

 

Gaster didn’t even bother about the fish. As soon as Death was on the ground again, he marched up to the demon, putting his hands on the staff firmly and tugging it back.

 

“Bad! You don’t just steal someone’s staff!” He chided. “You could’ve caused a lot of havoc with that!”   
  
“relax,” Sans chimed in as he followed Gaster closely. “‘s kinda my fault. ‘m sorry.” He put his arms around Death tightly, as if to protect him from his father’s rage. “death didn’ know any better.”

  
  


Death frowned, glaring at the father figure once he called him ‘bad’, his teeth bared. So much so he went forward and latched his teeth on to Gaster's leg. 

  
  


Gaster screamed surprised, feeling teeth sinking into his bone, and instinctively he  _ almost _ summoned an attack against the demon. But he held back, teeth grit, glaring at both Death as well as Sans.

 

“Off. My leg.” Gaster hissed through his teeth.

 

Sans was anxiously trying to pull Death back, quietly begging him to let go, to stop, trying to make it clear he wasn’t supposed to be doing this, but also not wanting to upset the demon even more.

  
  


Death thankfully let go of Gaster once Sans asked him to, still glaring at Gaster as he was lifted into Sans’ arms, cradled into Sans. Death stuck his tongue out at Gaster anyways, to show his displeasure at the warlock. 

 

“next time ‘ll leave yer stick in da fish. see who da ‘bad’ one is den.” He hissed, jumping off Sans and gliding to his brother to sulk on his side, getting a few nibbles of the catfish they just got.

  
  


Gaster was still miffed when Death let go and glided away, but decided not to say anything about it. Sans still could tell, though, and sheepishly glanced towards him. This whole situation  _ had _ kind of been his fault…

 

“...uh… sorry,” he muttered out, flinching when he got a glare from his father.

 

“My staff is not a toy to play with,” he chided Sans. “How would you feel if someone took and threw away your staff?”

 

Sans was caving in on himself, knowing he’s messed up. “...i know, ‘m sorry. ‘t won’t happen again...”

 

He slowly moved away from his angry dad to get closer to the two demons and get out of this uncomfortable mess. Kneeling down next to Death he asked, “‘s there room for one more?”

 

He just wanted to be close to someone who wasn’t mad at him.

  
  


Death’s smile widened, his claws grabbing onto Sans and pulling him into his chest, almost like he was hugging the skeleton. Death licked Sans’ cheek, humming lightly before digging back in to the side of the Catfish’s stomach. 

 

Aster walked up to Gaster slowly, smiling softly at the warlock, “Are you fine, my friend?”

  
  


“...I am,” Gaster replied, his voice still carrying a strong layer of annoyance, though. He let dark magic coat the staff for a moment, peeling off all the slime and dirt and blood off of it, before dissipating the magic again. “I  _ just _ almost lost the very staff I’ve been carrying for a hun- for my whole life. Nothing to worry about.”

  
  


“My son did get it back, there is no need to worry any longer. Children are impulsive, Death just wanted to play with you and Sans wasn’t thinking, he just wanted to have fun. Don’t blame them to much, they mean well.” Aster soothed, his smile growing nervous when his gaze went down to Gaster’s leg. “I must also apologize for my sons….. behavior, please don’t take the bite personally.” 

 

He looked at his demon son tear into the catfish slowly, having just already eaten, so he isn’t that hungry. But the sight of Death pulling Sans close like he was protecting him by pressing him to his chest while he does his own thing was sort of precious and adorable to Aster.

  
  


Gaster sighed, not exactly feeling a lot  _ better _ about the situation, but… He knew Aster was right. And Sans had realized he’s made a mistake and honestly apologized… It was just hard to deal with almost having lost your staff…

 

“It is alright. Thank you, Aster,” he still said eventually getting back to the others at the campfire.


	36. when your mate becomes a dragon...

They were once again on the road, everyone staying together in the carriage once again. Death glaring at Gaster whenever he got close, but otherwise, ignored him. When they reached a certain speed, both the demons stuck their heads out of the gaping hole in the carriage to let their tongues feel the air, panting excitability as the wind hit their faces.

 

Death’s tailed wagged so much it kept hitting Sans, who still wanted to be next to his mate, mostly due to the flames being very close now that they were in the carriage again. But that meant having to deal with a really happy tail from a equally happy demon, having to be very careful with the sharp point on the tip of the tail.

 

But Hearth did smirk every time Sans got a particularly hard smack from the tail in the face, crossing his arms and grinning at Sans like he was telling him ‘You deserve that’.

  
  


Sans didn’t even mind getting whipped by the tail that much. It was his lovers tail, so it was ok, and he comfortably leaned against any part of his mate that he could reach.

 

“SO, WHERE EXACTLY ARE WE GOING NOW???” Papyrus asked curiously. “WE HAVEN’T BEEN IN A VILLAGE IN A LONG TIME!!!”

 

“We won’t be going to the village  _ yet, _ ” Grillby mused. “Though we probably should soon to fix the carriage.”   
  
“aww, but they like it,” Sans complained, nuzzling into his mate’s side.   
  


“...They do, but it’ll let too much cold and rain in once the weather gets worse,” the elemental replied. “For now, though, we’ll stay farther off to get by some farms, see how well Death and Reaper will be able to hold themselves back…”

  
  


Sans has leaned in a little to much, Death scrambling to back up before he falls face first into the earth. He fully entered the carriage to look at Sans trying to nuzzle into his side, giving a soft little lick on Sans’ forehead, Death sank into the spot next to Sans until he fell on Sans’ lap. The demon struggled to pull himself up, but did it after a few tries, sitting on Sans’ lap with his head on his shoulder, purring softly.

  
  


Grillby was laughing quietly as he watched the two, Sans now putting his arms tightly around the demon, letting them stroke over his back slowly as he cuddled into him. They both really looked like they were completely comfortable with each other…

 

It was too cute.  _ They _ were too cute. Why did they have to be so devoted to each other…? He just… wanted some room for him in what they had, but… he knew he’ll never have.

 

Grillby straightened surprised when the carriage started to slow down, before he could hear Gaster’s voice from the front of it.

 

“There’s a farm close, you can already see it,” he said, his voice both excited and slightly wary.

  
  


Reaper launched himself out, already jumping at the chance to explore, while Death… just lay there where he was, dead to the world besides his mate he was snuggled up to.

 

“Oh, this looks perfect, now Reaper do stay near us, we don’t want the farmers to think different!” He called out to his son, motioning over, but Reaper still didn’t come. Yes he stayed near them, but he mostly wondered to have his own take on the place. Hearth did try to follow and stay beside him, just some sort of precaution that someone would see Reaper and attack without thinking. 

 

But the demon made it difficult, moving faster when Hearth got close, like he was either teasing Hearth or just plain out doesn’t want to be close to any of them. Which is bad at a time like this, when the demons are to show how tame and nice they could be. At least Death looked tame…. Tamed, nice, cuddly and ready for even more cuddles!

  
  


“do we neeeed to get up?” Sans drawled out as the carriage came to a halt, still snuggled against the demon in his arms. 

 

“YES!! DEATH CAN’T PROVE HOW GOOD HE IS BY JUST BEING COOPED UP IN HERE!” Papyrus answered, already getting out of the carriage excitedly.

 

Grillby stayed behind, deciding to stay close to Death and Sans, the way Hearth at least  _ tried _ to stay around Reaper. “...I think your brother has a point,” he said, picking Sans’ staff up for the skeleton. “You two should probably join in with Reaper.”   
  
“ughhh, don’  _ wanna, _ ” Sans complained, but he  _ did _ get up, holding Death close in his arms and exiting the carriage, Grillby close behind him.

  
  


Death looked up at Grillby while Sans got out the carriage, watching the flame come after them. The demon stuck his tongue out playfully at the flame, almost challenging, his calm smile twitching upwards impishly. But this time Death didn’t hide the tongue right away like last time, this time it stayed out, mocking the flame monster.

  
  


Again, like last time, Grillby was surprised, unprepared, not having expected it. But he didn’t just stop this time, instead giving Death back a lopsided grin.

 

“And what are you smiling at, hm?” He asked a little teasing. He didn’t miss the way Sans seemed to tense up slightly, tightening his hold on Death, but the skeleton didn’t say anything this time, instead nuzzling his face into Death.

 

Well. At least Grillby was still allowed to interact with Death at all.

  
  


Death’s tail went around his body, to Grillby, poking at Grillby with the smile growing wider ever so slowly, his tongue sticking out more. More pronounced, teasing, and much more mocking, his brows furrowed, his gaze challenging. 

 

The tail played with the flames on Grillby’s hand almost curious, but Death’s hold on Sans didn’t loosen, keeping a strong hold on the skeleton. But Death’s expression soon turned back to normal, tongue already going back into hiding, now Death’s gaze was on his tail. Almost like a child examining something new, but with Death, his tail was the little hand touching and prodding at the flames that didn’t hurt him.

  
  


Grillby hummed surprised when Death seemed to turn from playing to examining the elemental, seeming curious about Grillby’s flames. He let the demon prod around his hands a bit, before summoning a small flame to engulf the tip of Death’s tail, the fire warm, but not burning hot. More like the warmth of something that was alive, pulsing and comforting, and Grillby threw the demon a small, soft smile, curious to catch his reaction.

  
  


Death’s eyes widen in surprise, shock, absolutely stunned, but he seemed overjoyed to having a fire tail. His mouth and nose couldn’t be seen, thanks to Death buring half his face into Sans’ shoulder, only the very tip of his nose hole poked out the very tiniest bit. The tail flicked back and forth, testing the flame, before Death reached out to touch his tail, eye lights actually forming in his sockets, bright, big, and filled with wonder.

  
  


Grillby chuckled softly at the demon’s antics, absolutely delighted at the adorable reaction.

 

“Careful,” he warned, though his voice was soft and amused. “It’ll go out if you wave it around too much.”

 

He summoned another small flame in his palm, drawing the hand carrying it quickly through the air, so the gust of wind extinguished the small flame again, giving Death an example.

  
  


Death took a moment to process what he just saw, eye lights going out, before scrambling out of Sans’ hold to climb onto Grillby’s back, his wings spreading to stop the wind from touching Grillby’s upper half, since he was only big enough to cover so much, but it was the thought that counts.

  
  


Sans turned around startled the second Death left him, feeling hot of anger when he saw the demon wrapped around Grillby.

 

“hey, what d’ y’ think you’re doin’!?” He growled angrily, though it was directed at Grillby rather than Death, and the elemental was already hurriedly trying to get Death off, gently petting the wings.

 

“It’s okay, Death, don’t worry!” He cooed calmingly. “My flames are much more resistant than my fire magic. Only strong wind or water can really put them off.” That and lack of oxygen or too humid air, or simply Grillby growing too weak to keep his own flames alive…

 

But Death didn’t need to have to know that.

  
  


Death’s hold on the flame lessened, so much so that Death fell flat on the floor, but the demon didn’t let it stop him. Crawling over to Sans’ feet and slowly climbing back up into Sans’ arms, looking defeated. His attempts to protect the flames of the fire monster failed, the only thing he has is the fire on the tip of his tail, which he pulled to his chest to prod at.

  
  


Sans held Death close once he came back, giving the demon a few soft kisses, before he glared at Grillby, like a mother who just got her baby taken from her. “ _ mine, _ ” he hissed at him posessively, before turning around to strut after Reaper, no longer paying the elemental any attention.

 

A bit taken aback, Grillby still followed, hanging back a little though.

  
  


Death moved his tail in front of Sans’ face, showing him the little flame on the tip of his tail, even poking it to show Sans.

  
  


There was a small, nasty part of Sans that didn’t like the flame when he saw it. The little bit of  _ Grillby’s magic _ on  _ his mate… _ But Death seemed so happy about it, so curious and adorable. And as much as Sans wished the elemental would just keep his hands off the demon, he… knew he was being much too over possessive. And… he didn’t want to ruin anything for Death.

 

“didn’ know my mate was a dragon,” he chuckled out instead, nuzzling Death a little as he examined the small flame on his tail.

  
  


Death’s smile widened as he wiggled his bone brows furiously at the skeleton, being called a dragon sounded fucking awesome. He looked at his tail in pride and admired the flame, feeling like a cool dragon, his wings opening more to give him more of the dragon touch. 

 

Sadly, a gust of wind blew a little to hard for the little flame to handle, blowing it out easily. The moment the flame died, so did Death’s smile, the demon staring at the tip of the tail with heartbreak. He looked at Sans, like he couldn’t believe what happened, then back at the tail, then at Sans again, then at the tail, before dropping his head sadly on Sans’ shoulder, the long whine almost sounding like a whimper.

 

He deflated in the monster’s grip, wings and tail falling limp, the biggest frown on Death’s face with big sockets.

  
  


Sans had whined with the demon when the flame went out, almost feeling Death’s excitement deflate himself, like it had been his own. He hugged Death close, stroking over his back like he was trying to cheer him up a little.

 

He turned back to Grillby, eyes hard and determined. But he softened, almost looking abashed when he actually asked, “can y’... do the fire thin’ ‘gain…?”

 

And Grillby seemed surprised himself. He hadn’t expected  _ Sans _ to ask him to, knowing very well how little the skeleton wanted him on his demon. But of course he nodded, putting both his hands around the demon’s tail tip, before pulling them away again, leaving a small flame in his stead.

  
  


Death screeched in glee, staring at the flame with such joy, holding it up to Sans’ face to show him the little flame, the demon’s face lit up with a big wide smile.

  
  


As soon as Sans saw the joy back in Death’s face he grinned brightly himself, first at Death, then at Grillby as a silent ‘thank you.’ The flame seemed taken aback by the reaction, but smiled back, before Sans focused back on his mate.

  
  


Death wiggled out of Sans’ grip to sit on his hind legs, holding his hands out to Grillby, his hands held together like he was cupping something, but holding it out to Grillby, like expecting something. 

 

Death looked at his hands then at Grillby’s hand, even moving his tail to show the flame, to hint what he wants.

  
  


Grillby took a small moment to realize what Death wanted from him, before he noticed the way he was showing him the flame on his tip.

 

“More fire?” He asked, quirking his voice a little playfully. “Okay, but be careful with it.”

 

He formed a small flame to place into the demon’s palms, but this time didn’t draw his hands fully back until he gave Death a gentle pet on his skull.

  
  


Death turned slightly to give Sans a big grin, letting him see the flame in his hands. The demon looked at both the monsters for a moment, before his face twisted into something more impish and mischievous. He opened his mouth and ate the flame, putting his hands down once the flame was no longer in his hands.

 

Death grinned, the flame in his skull could be seen in his nose hole and sockets, growing bigger in his skull. The demon looked towards the wooden fence of the farmer who they are visiting and blew. A stream of hot fire shot from his mouth, catching the fence and grass on fire.

 

Death screeched in joy, before bolting to the barn not that far away, blowing fire into every direction he could, laughing evilly. The fire spreading quickly, Death even bagan to fly two feet up to give the idea of a dragon, even screaming in joy.

 

“‘m a dragon!!!”

  
  


Sans and Grillby both were… speechless. There were screams and cries of innocent farmers, startled animals as a whole family seemed to run out of the building to try to put out the growing fire, Papyrus running in between them trying to be helpful.

 

But too quickly did the farmers decide that there was no saving it, and rather than trying to, they turned on the demon still blowing fire around, cursing him, coming at him with crosses and pitchforks.

 

Reaper screeched in rage, diving at the farmers that tried to get near his brother.


	37. someone touched the no zone

Everyone was in the carriage, a foul mood over them all, except the two demons. Both were watching the burning farm from the hole in the carriage, cheering and overjoyed at the sight, like it was a really amazing light show.

 

Thankfully no one died this time, Reaper mauled a few people, but they all walked away with only injuries. Death on the other hand, had ignored the scolding everyone was trying to give him, completely over on cloud nine about the masterpiece he had just done. 

 

He is not allowed to have fire anymore...

 

Grillby and Sans were not spared of anything either, Sans giving Death the idea of being a fucking dragon, and Grillby for giving a murder demon fucking fire.

  
  


Sans - Grillby too, though he was more subtle about it - felt kind of lied to by the demon. Yes, they… shouldn’t have given him fire in the first place. But he had been acting so innocently, so sweetly delighted and curious by the flames, they had  _ trusted _ him.

 

And he practically took their trust, devoured it and destroyed someone’s farm with it… He wasn’t even listening to any of the scolding, looking like he’d do the same thing again as soon as he got the chance. Like he wasn’t even  _ trying _ to be good.

 

So rather than by scolding, Sans decided to show Death he was displeased by sitting at the other end of the carriage than Death was, not paying the demon any attention and instead glaring into the wall with crossed arms and an upset pout.

  
  


Once the farm was out of sight, Death finally left the hole, going over to Sans and cooing at him happily, cuddling up to Sans’ legs before reaching out his hands at the monster, wanting to be picked up and cuddled.

  
  


“death, no,” Sans grumbled out, the words almost coming through his teeth painfully. He shoved Death off of him slightly, turning away from the demon even more obviously, so he had to pull his legs onto the bench slightly.

  
  


Death fell back on his butt due to being shoved on the paws of his hind legs, losing balance. Death whined softly at Sans to get his attention, but when Sans ignored him, the demon grumbled and slowly went over to Grillby.

 

The demon looked up at him and cooed softly, pressing his body to the flames legs like he did with Sans, only less intimate. 

  
  


Grillby glanced down at the demon, his eyes icier than usually, though there was a hint of regret in it. He, too, shoved the demon away, gentler, though.

 

“Not right now,” he mumbled out, before going back to what he’s been doing before, not paying the demon any more attention.

  
  


Death stared at the flame, then at the skeleton, both brushing him off and turning away. What did he do wrong? Why are they ignoring him?

 

The demon whined softly at them both, looking confused and a little startled. The warlock and the sorcerer were at the front, talking about the set back and what they have to do next. Reaper had gotten a few pets from Papyrus before the demon dragged Papyrus out the carriage and flew them to the top of the carriage. Being only the two flame brothers and Sans had to deal with Death.

 

But two were ignoring him…

 

Hearth looked at both Grillby and then Sans, feeling like he was going to piss them both off for what he was planning to do, but…. Death looked lonely, and he wasn’t the one that got shoved under the bus by the demon.

 

So Hearth slid down his seat on the bench to sit on the ground, his arms out at the demon, cooing at him softly. “Aww, poor thing. Come here~, I’ll give you some cuddles.”

 

Death was hesitant at first, but looking back at the two monsters ignoring him, Death slowly went to Hearth, sniffing him softly before letting himself be in the range for Hearth to encircle his arms around the demon.

 

The flame’s grip was strong, pulling Death more into the other’s chest more than the demon liked, whining softly at being squished in his grip. But the grip loosened and the arms cradled the demon slowly, the flame shushing him and laying his head on Death’s shoulder.

 

Now the last time Death got this close to Hearth, the flame tried to put his dick into him, but a lot of time passed since then, a lot of time Hearth tried to make up for it. Death ever so slowly stopped being so cold to Hearth, but near really going to seek anything from the monster, the flame was more like a friend of your own friend and you yourself aren’t friends with but you only really hang out because you two like to hang with the same friend.

 

But now Death had been pulled into Hearth’s arms, being cradled and held so close that the demon froze, unsure of what to do, going stiff. It didn’t last long, the other two were ignoring him, so might as well enjoy the affection the only monster here was willing to give him, so Death relaxed and lay into the hold.

 

Hearth smiled, letting his hands run up and down Death’s back and sides, mesmerizing every curve and bump of every bone, a huge smile on his face as he stared at the demon in his arms, whining softly at him. It just made Hearth want to squeal, holding the demon tighter ever so slightly.

  
  


Of course Sans noticed Hearth giving attention to Death. He wasn’t looking, but he heard him, heard him talk, heard the demon’s scuffling, the little noises. And he almost  _ felt _ it when he touched his mate, feeling pissed and angry.

 

Death was his damn mate! He was marked, he smelled so strongly like Sans it almost was as natural as his own smell and they’ve only told them like  _ all the fucking time. _ So why couldn’t either of the elementals just have the damn decency to not run their greedy hands over what was  _ Sans’. _

 

Not even Grillby was too happy about Hearth giving the demon so much attention, glaring at his brother shortly, though quickly dropping it again. Death had messed up as much as Sans and him had, but unlike them, Death didn’t even seem to  _ register _ that. And pretending everything was okay, praising the demon, giving him pets and cuddles, it wasn’t going to help with that situation…

 

They both kept quiet, though, the most noise coming out being small growl under Sans’ breath.

  
  


Death wasn’t exactly  _ comfortable _ , the knowledge that he was being ignored didn’t sit well with him. And the hands running up and down his spine was leaving cold shivers down his spine, even if the hand was warm to the touch. It didn’t feel right, sure he was okay with Hearth, but the touches didn’t feel…. right.

 

It felt like something more was happening, but Death couldn’t put his finger on it, but the demon flinched hard when the hand went a little more down than he liked. Letting out a short yelp before the hand quickly went back up, the flame apologizing repeatedly. 

 

“Sorry, sorry! Didn’t mean to, sorry.” Hearth shushed Death quickly, cradling the demon. But Death curled in on himself, almost a little ball in Hearth’s grip, getting bounced softly by the elemental.

 

Death whined at the monster holding him, glaring ever so softly at him, like he didn’t have the energy. “no.”

 

Hearth smiled nervously, apologetically. “Yeah, I know, I’m sorry, won’t happen again.” Rubbing the demon’s shoulder softly while his magma eyes were half lidded and admiring the frowning demon in his arms.

  
  


Sans was curled up on himself, hands clenching around the fabric of his cloak. He didn’t know  _ what _ Hearth did exactly, but he hated it. He hated it so deeply and furiously and he was so damn close to snapping, turning around to pull them apart. 

 

The only reason he didn’t was because when he turned slightly to do so, he could already see Grillby glaring at his brother, not quite as fuming as Sans was, but also looking distressed. His voice was tense and hissed as he forced it through his teeth, a short, “Watch it,” towards Hearth.

  
  


Hearth glared at his brother, holding the demon in his arms like a plushie, almost mocking. “Weren’t you sulking? Leave me be.” He said, voice clipped. Hands running down one of Death’s arms, making the demon shiver and making his wings close around his body even more, like he was shielding himself from the suggestive touches.

 

Yes, all these touches can be taken platonically, but Death didn’t have that feeling like it was. It felt like the touches were dirty, mean more than they should. At the angle he was pressed to the fire monster, the others didn’t see the other hand press between his legs, were his privates would form.

 

Hearth himself was surprised when he felt it, he genuinely didn’t mean to hold Death there, he meant to grab the leg and pull both legs closer to be more comfortable. But it didn’t go that way, and the demon flailed in his grasp yelping and screeching at the flame, his tail and wings going around widely, hitting Hearth before he finally let go. The demon scrambled away before jumping out the hole in the carriage, climbing up to the roof and hiding into a confused Papyrus’ side.

  
  
  


Sans flipped as soon as he heard the screech, spinning around and slamming Hearth down onto the bench, his hands pushing into the elemental’s chest. “what did you _ do!? _ ” He growled menacingly, feeling hot, angry magic coursing through him.

  
  


Hearth grabbed Sans’ wrist and pulled him back easily, “I didn’t mean to, I swear! I was trying to move his leg, I didn’t mean to put my hand  _ there _ , I  _ really  _ didn’t!” Hearth explained panicky, looking out the hole with worry and a little anxious. 

  
  


He put his hand on Death.  _ He put his hand where it didn’t belong. _

 

“ _ bullshit, _ ” Sans growled through grit teeth, freeing himself from Hearth to pin him down again. “y’ve been lustin’ for  _ my _ mate the entire time. back. the fuck.  _ off. _ ”

 

His fingers dug into Hearth’s chest almost like claws and he felt, very strongly, the irrational but strong need to  _ attack _ him. He touched his mate, was after his mate, Sans  _ needed _ to show him his place, needed to show him who the fucking alpha was here, because it sure as hell was not some failed priest.

 

But before Sans could act out on anything Grillby grabbed him from behind, arms tight around Sans chest as he pulled him back, about to tell him to relax.

 

But Sans  _ screeched. _ Ungodly and loud and he was struggling to strongly and wildly in Grillby’s hold that it was hard for him to hold on.

  
  


Hearth backed away quickly, eye wide and unbelieving. He noticed Reaper’s head poking from the top of the hole, like he was leaning over the side of the carriage to peer down at what was happening. 

 

“Sans! I’m sorry, geez, calm down! I’m not bullshitting you, it’s the truth! I really didn’t mean to do that, I don’t want to scare Death away again, I don’t want that!” Hearth yelled, hoping the others didn’t hear Sans and how loud he was being.

  
  


But they did, and the carriage soon came to a halt, Gaster storming from the front of the carriage to where the other’s were, barging in with panicked eyes.

 

“Your son is going insane!” Grillby said before Gaster could even ask, and true to his word, Sans was still struggling and hissing in Grillby’s hold, seemingly uncaring who or what he hit in his flailing.

 

Grillby watched as the older warlock got a few leafs from his little bag under his cloak, before stepping forward and holding it under Sans’ nose. 

 

“Deep breaths,” he instructed, his voice soft and calming, and Grillby wasn’t sure if Sans was actually listening, but after a few seconds of it he just… went limp. His flailing stopped, his breathing was slower, slower than when he freaked out just now, but also slower than usually. The  _ elemental _ couldn’t see it, but Sans’ eyes were half lidded, eyelights slightly wider than usually.

 

“You can put him down now,” Gaster instructed, taking a step back again and putting the leaves away. Now he sounded much colder, distressed. Grillby nodded, gently placing the skeleton onto the bench, unsure on what had been done to him. But Sans was still conscious, humming lightly, before he let out a soft, drawled,

 

“i wan’ deaaathhh…”

 

For a moment Gaster and Grillby both glanced at him, unsure of what to do with him. But after a little, the warlock turned away again.

 

“I will have a word with him tomorrow,” he said, and from the tone of it it sounded like Sans would be in trouble.

  
  


Reaper and Death were around Papyrus protectively, the demons whining at Gaster as he left the carriage entrance, crooning for answers with worry on their faces. They didn’t enter the carriage strangely enough, only stuck near Papyrus and looked at Gaster for answers.

 

Aster too, was leaning over the bench at the front of the carriage, holding the reins tightly. He looked like he was ready to jump down into action, but only holding himself off my the littlest bit, waiting for Gaster’s okay.

  
  


Gaster noticed the eyes on him, was used to that kind of expectant attention. But being used to it meant he also knew when he couldn’t give them answers. Hearth and Grillby probably knew what was going on better than Gaster did. The most he could tell was that his son was falling more and more to his demonic urges, and he didn’t feel good about it. He wasn’t sure what he should  _ do _ about it…

 

Gaster went back to occupy his spot at the front of the carriage, glancing back once to make sure everyone was in or on it, before moving on, not leaving a single word on what just happened.

 

They could probably get more answers from the others.

 

And that’s what Papyrus hoped, too, though being surrounded by two demons he wasn’t exactly able to go to Hearth and Grillby. So he opted to ask Death and Reaper instead, his voice a bit smaller than usually, dripping with worry as he asked, “WHAT… JUST HAPPENED???”

  
  


Death whined softly, looking up at Papyrus with guilt. “i made sans mad, don’ know why…” He was very upset at him when they left the farm. Could he just blown up after the demon left? To spare Death’s feelings? Or was worried he would hurt him?

  
  


Papyrus doubted that would be the reason on why Sans would… react like that. But Death seemed concerned and confused and Papyrus let out a soft sigh as he went on to explain him why Sans was so upset.   
  
Why  _ most _ of them were so upset, being the fact that they had wanted to leave a good impression on people, to help them stay calm around them and their cattle, but instead Death had burnt down their farm, angered and endangered the farmers and forced them to leave…

 

But also why  _ Sans _ was upset specifically, him and Grillby, because Papyrus had noticed how hurt his brother had looked, and he only could imagine the same went for Grillby. That they had put their trust and faith in Death and that he would be good, only to get thrown under the bus like that.

 

“I DON’T KNOW WHY HE WOULD SCREAM LIKE THAT, THOUGH…” Papyrus mused once he finished off. “I DON’T THINK IT WOULD HAVE TO DO WITH THIS.”

  
  


Death stared at the ground, not saying a word. It sunk in what had happened, and why. Sans called him a dragon, he liked being a dragon, it looked cool and fun. He had a cool fire tail that Grillby gave him, and even breathed fire!

 

The demon didn’t really care for others, his travel companions sure, he cared for them. But… hell he thought they all forgot about trying to make him good! He thought they all just threw that idea away and let him be who he wants to be.

  
  


On the other hand, when the fuck do they discuss plans  _ with  _ the demons? Ask if that was okay with them? He doesn’t even remember them talking about it! Sure he and his brother often ignore and not notice what they are talking about, words were often boring.

 

But hell, how was he supposed to know he was supposed to leave a good impression, he was just having fun. 

 

Death glared up at Papyrus and told him exactly just that, how they don’t talk with he demons and just expect them to follow, how he didn’t even know there was a damn plan to begin with.

 

“‘m not yer pet ta do wha ya all want, who says i will just do wha ya say?” He growled, Reaper bending down until he was pressing himself to the roof, watching carefully, sockets focused and wide on Papyrus, waiting for his response.

  
  


“I THOUGHT YOU KNEW!” Papyrus exclaimed, his eyes surprised, but abashed, feeling guilty. “YOU WERE THERE WHEN WE DISCUSSED IT, I… THOUGHT YOU WERE LISTENING…”

 

Of course the demons hadn’t contributed to the discussion either, but they rarely talked in the first place, he didn’t think a lot of it…

  
“I’M… SORRY…” He still muttered out, his voice slowly getting smaller.

  
  


“words ‘re hard.” Death muttered.

 

“HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION HARD, NEED ONE ON ONE TO FOCUS.” Reaper explained, scratching his arm, mostly at the wrist.

 

“nev’r used much words til’ now.” Death lay his body on his brother, tired. Yes, he will admit that he might have taken advantage of the kindness Sans and Grillby gave him. Even if he didn’t really think they would have cared or minded if he played dragon for a bit, he still made them upset.

 

He remembered the time they went to the dead village that made his chest hurt, how pictures just appeared around him out of nowhere, the pictures making him feel scared and alone for some reason. Then the drink their father gave them, he was talking before they gave them it, but he regretted not listening, even after blacking out and waking up days later. Or when the group come together to talk about things, he thought it was boring and didn’t bother, now look where it is leading him…

 

“sorry…” Death muttered, Reaper looking down at him shocked before looking at Papyrus and also apologizing. “SORRY.”

  
  


“NO, I’M SORRY,” Papyrus told them, giving both the demons gentle pets. “WE SHOULD’VE MADE SURE YOU KNEW ABOUT THE PLANS. I ASSURE YOU, NONE OF US EVER WANTED YOU TO FEEL… LIKE PETS. LIKE WE’RE USING YOU… WE’RE JUST TRYING TO HELP…”

 

But he knew it was hard for both sides to understand. They weren’t just a different culture, it was like they were from almost a completely different world, at least had a worldview completely different. And neither could say which one was the right one or the wrong one, but…

 

Demons got exorcised in their world, people that  _ weren’t _ demons, that didn’t understand them being simply the majority… and none of them ever wanted something bad to happen to Reaper and Death.

  
  


“HOW IS WHAT YOUR DOING….. HELPING?” Reaper asked, staring hard into Papyrus’ eyes, genuinely curious for the answer and also skeptical. 

  
  


Papyrus hummed thoughtfully, musing over how to word this. “WELL… REMEMBER WHEN WE FIRST MET YOU???” The young skeleton asked, the question directed at Death. “WHEN SANS TRIED TO KILL YOU??? HE WAS TOLD TO DO SO BY AN ENTIRE VILLAGE… AND HE CAPTURED YOU.”

 

He was sure this wasn’t quite coming out a good way, but Papyrus wasn’t done yet either. “I DON’T KNOW HOW MANY RUN-INS YOU HAD ASIDE FROM US, BUT… PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE DEMONS. THEY WILL TRY TO… HURT THEM. KILL THEM…” His voice was softer around the end, like he hated saying it out loud. “IT’S BECAUSE THEY’RE SCARED. FOR THEIR LIVES OR FAMILY OR HOMES. WE JUST… WE WANT TO HELP YOU TO NO LONGER ATTACK THOSE KIND OF PEOPLE. THE KIND THAT WILL ATTACK  _ YOU _ IN RETURN SO WE CAN JUST… AVOID CONFLICT AT ALL.”

 

“WE WANT YOU TO BE  _ SAFE, _ ” Papyrus finished off, eyes focused on both the demons, hoping they understood.

  
  


“dey don’ like demons, so why does it mad’er if we good or not, dey will still hate us, kill us…” It’s like Papyrus said, when they see a demon, you have to kill it, don’t let it react, don’t think, just kill it before it kills you. So why would they stop and care if the demon was nice? How was being a nice demon going to keep them safe? Being a demon in general is what makes them get attacked. If others were scared, they will react, they won’t care about what they are scared of at all until it is gone. 

  
  


“WELL… WE NOTICED YOU’RE GOOD, AND WE DON’T HATE YOU…” Papyrus offered. “AND DAD IS VERY POWERFUL. PEOPLE WILL LISTEN TO HIM IF HE TELLS THEM NOT TO ATTACK YOU, BUT… IF THAT ENDS UP GETTING THEM HURT, IT’LL JUST… LOOK BAD FOR ALL OF US…”

 

Gaster would quickly lose his authority or even have to step in if things got too bad…

 

“I… I’M SURE IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE IT IS POSSIBLE, BUT… IF IT IS… WOULDN’T YOU  _ WANT _ TO LIVE FREELY? WITHOUT THE HATRED OF EVERYONE ELSE, WITHOUT FEELING LIKE EVERYONE’S OUT TO… TO HURT YOU?”

  
  


“THAT’S NOT THE POINT.” Reaper muttered.

 

“don’ care ‘bout od’ers…” Death grumbled, “still hate us, wha would stop dem fer not listenin’. don’ listen when scared. even if no gaster or with, we will always be hated. if it weren’ fer ya, sans would a’ left me fer  _ dead… _ .” He glared at the monster, before turning around until his back was facing Papyrus.

 

“don’ believe yer lies…” Reaper too, laid down with his brother, curling up on him and staying silent.

  
  


Papyrus glanced downwards at the words, feeling something tight and bad in his chest. Death wasn’t… wrong…

 

“DO YOU WANT US TO… GIVE UP THEN?” He asked hesitantly. It wasn’t really… easy to do anything when… they didn’t even  _ want _ to cooperate.

  
  


But Death and Reaper didn’t answer, already have drawn the conversation closed.


	38. that tree really feels popular today

After a hour of riding, they finally stopped to rest. Death and Reaper going over to a big tree and climbing it, hiding in the leaves, only their tails that were hanging down could be seen.

 

Aster sighed into his hands, a headache coming on. “What are we even going to do? We should have made sure they knew the basics of not killing people, or made sure they could control themselves with only  _ animals _ . We went too fast, they shouldn’t have made contact with others yet.” He said it loud enough for everyone to hear, only the demons were to far away to hear their father.

 

“Should we… give them treats if they do something good?” Hearth asked, staying as far away from Sans as much as possible.

  
  


“THEY’RE NOT ANIMALS…” Papyrus complained. He kept his eyes low, though, feeling bad about what he had to say. “PLUS, I… THEY… DON’T REALLY WANT TO CH-CHANGE…”

 

Grillby looked up surprised, shock, feeling like cold shudder went down his spine. “No,” he breathed out. “No, no, that was the whole reason why they  _ came _ with us, why would they…” He took a deep breath in. A deep breath out.

  
His eyes were still wide, but he stopped stammering panicky.   
  
If they really didn’t want to change, then what… what were they supposed to  _ do? _ Stick with them and stay away from civilization for the rest of their lives? Or abandon them and continue on their own paths.

 

He didn’t like either of the ideas, he just wanted the demons to be part of their little family, part of their lives…

  
  


“But then they will cause even more destruction, for the good of everyone else, they will have to control themselves.” Aster frowned, looking at Papyrus with a unbelieving face. “Did they tell you this? Or did you figure this out on your own?”

  
  


“THEY TOLD ME,” Papyrus replied. “THEY ALSO LET ME KNOW THEY HAVE TROUBLE LISTENING TO WORDS? IT’S EASIER ONE-ON-ONE FOR THEM. ARE WE… ARE… YOU PLANNING TO FORCE THEM…?”

 

“‘dunno wha’  _ ‘e’s _ plannin’, but i’m not lettin’ ‘im do somethin’ to them without their consent  _ again, _ ” Sans argued, his voice carrying a good bit of annoyance.

 

He wasn’t sure what his father had done to him, but it had practically thrown him into a state of euphoria, having felt warm and comfortable, kind of sleepy. But it just left him feeling all the more annoyed once the effect let down, feeling more played with than ever… and knowing Gaster was still upset at him as well didn’t entirely help him either.

  
  


“We aren’t forcing them to do nothing!!” Aster cried out, “We are helping them! If they are nice, they won’t get attacked, they will be safe, safe with  _ us _ !” 

 

Hearth ignored what Aster was spewing about and squinted his eyes at Papyrus. “What does them having trouble with words have anything to do with this? It’s not like we all talk to them at the same time, they even respond okay when we do talk to them…”

  
  


“WELL, THEY HAVE TROUBLE LISTENING WHEN WE MAKE PLANS,” Papyrus tried to explain. “THEY DIDN’T KNOW THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD BACK AT THE FARM!”

 

Sans grumbled something under his breath about how that didn’t mean Death had to take their gift and destroy farms with it, but Papyrus decided to ignore it.

  
  


“Wait… so all this time… of course!” Aster smacked his fist in the other palm of his hand. “They looked confused when we saw what happened to them in the village, and when they drank the potions, we all talked about both of the events so much, but never directly to them! They never got filled in on what will happen!” Aster was pacing back and forth, mentioning little small moments of everyone talking about stuff, and the demons not responding like they should, more like they were unaware.

 

Hearth looked from Aster to Papyrus, nervous. “So what… we just make sure they know what we are trying to do, right? They will try to be good, right?” He asked Papyrus mostly, since he was the one to talk to the demons.

  
  


“I DON’T… KNOW,” Papyrus admitted. “I TRIED TO TELL THEM WE WERE TRYING TO HELP, BUT… THEY DON’T SEEM TO CARE…”

 

“They’re demons when it comes down to it…” Gaster said, his tone sounding regretful. Though no amount of regret quite spared him from the angered, offended looks he got from both Sans and Grillby, a sad one from Papyrus.

  
“and wha’s  _ that _ s’pposed t’ mean!?” Sans barked at him.

 

“It  _ means _ that I’ve told you before… many have tried to tame demons before. None have succeeded,” Gaster told them sternly. “I had my hopes in them as well, but you can all see what that’s gotten us so far.”

  
  


“So what?” Aster challenged. “What are you going to do? Leave them? Kill them? If you don’t want them, well I as sure do! Those are my sons, no matter what form they take on! Hell, how long have they been with us? We  _ slept  _ near them, we ate with them, they jump on us and lick our faces! How is  _ that  _ not tame? For us? They don’t see us as a threat and they don’t try to kill us, that is way more progress than anyone else in this damn world ever gotten!” 

 

And there was truth to that. Death and Reaper had many chances to kill and hurt every single one of them, and almost every single one of them gotten jumped on and licked, hell, every single one of them had at least had that happen to them at least once from Death, besides Hearth, and only Aster and Papyrus with Reaper.

 

They show affection to them, they protect them, they even fought  _ with  _ them! They were loyal, they were tame, but only with  _ them. _

 

“They are tame, but only with us! Because we  _ gained  _ their trust, don’t forget that demons were people that gotten  _ hurt _ , that felt the lowest of the low. Of course they won’t change in only a few months! But the progress they done is way more than anyone could ever expect. If you want to give up on them, fine,  _ leave _ , but I’m staying  _ with my sons _ .” Aster glared at Gaster one last time, before walking to the tree his boys were in and clumsily climbed up.

  
  


“That’s not what I-  _ Ugh! _ ” Aster had already left anyways. But that didn’t mean Gaster couldn’t continue his thought. “If they don’t  _ want _ to change, if they  _ want  _ to stay the way they are, don’t want to be their former selves, but also don’t want to learn to live with people… How much are  _ we _ supposed to do? We can’t keep them in custody forever, too many people have gotten to harm at our hands.”

 

“WELL, WE’LL JUST HAVE TO LEARN FROM THAT!” Papyrus piped in. He didn’t  _ exactly _ sound like he was judging Gaster. No, he wasn’t. But… he was still a little miffed that what he said. “WE’LL HAVE TO KEEP SUPPORTING THEM AND WAIT! MAYBE… I DON’T KNOW… MAYBE ONE DAY THEY WANT TO CHANGE. I DON’T WANT TO GIVE UP ON THEM YET!”

 

Papyrus didn’t wait for his dad’s reaction, instead also running over to the tree, hastily climbing up, only to end up helplessly hanging from a branch.

 

Sans gave Gaster a brief glance, before he too joined the others at the tree. Not climbing up yet, still sort of miffed at everything that happened, but he sat by the foot of it. Even if he wanted to, he wasn’t going to leave his mate. And neither did he  _ want _ to, so…

  
  


Hearth looked at his brother, almost asking him a silent question, before walking over to the tree, sitting at the base of it, on the other side of Sans, so the skeleton won’t glare or even have to look at him.

  
  


Grillby felt uncomfortable being the only one to leave, inevitably being the one to leave Gaster there alone. But he, too, has seen the progress the demons had gone through. The trust they started to put in them, compared to how little it had been in the beginning. 

 

He joined the others by the tree, sitting somewhat between Sans and Hearth, though still giving both of them their space.

 

So Gaster was alone now, glancing after the others to give them their support. He knew what this meant, and… he didn’t judge or think any less of them for it. But right now Gaster didn’t feel like he could join them there, instead disappearing into the carriage without another word.

  
  


The demons on the other hand, were overwhelmed with everyone coming to them and simply…. being there. They looked around to see almost everyone just, sitting. Like they had a purpose being here, yet it was unsaid yet clear. Death looked down at Sans, who was right under him, and a pang went through his chest of Sans being mad.

 

The demon slowly climbed down, only enough for his head to be hanging over Sans’. “‘m sorry i ‘urt ya, didn’ know ya would get upset fer dat, still don’ understand. never want ta ‘urt ya.” 

 

Death climbed back up the tree after that, back on his spot, letting Sans sit on his apology for a bit, maybe time will get Sans to forgive him, or even consider it right now. But now he is going to leave Sans to think, not pressure him to just accept it, but to accept it on his own terms.

  
  


Sans let out a soft hum, not sure if Death still heard it. It wasn’t exactly a prompt for him to go on or something to tell him it was fine. But neither was it simply dismissive. He’s… heard Death. He heard his apology and took it to heart, but… He still didn’t want the demon to be on him right now…

 

He just wanted some… time.

 

-

 

Night came faster than any of them thought, Aster was the only one that never left the tree, holding his two sons close while the others go to the carriage. Aster stroked his sons heads softly, lovingly, whispering sweet nothings to them.

  
  


None of them had exactly kicked Gaster out of the carriage once they all got inside to settle for the night, but the warlock still decided it would be better for him to stay at the front with the horses. They were all going through a difficult time, and Gaster didn’t want to make it even more difficult for them. They had chosen their path and Gaster was… still considering his own.

 

He knew they had a point about the demons. They were people, obviously, they were more tame than any demons he had ever met. Death and Reaper had so much character, so much to love and so much love to give that it would be cruel to abandon them, to give up on them, but…

 

At this point they were becoming a hazard to the people around them, and Gaster wasn’t sure how long he could allow this to go on. How long he could allow the demons to attack and kill people. How long he could allow Death to influence his son…

 

Gaster stopped his own train of thoughts at that point, instead simply deciding to go to sleep.

  
  


Night went thankfully undisturbed, everyone getting a least some hours of sleep before morning.

 

This time around, Aster was the first to wake, the demons right behind him, or mostly Reaper was, Death was still passed out on Reaper’s back.

 

Aster gave them some fish that they packed, since for whatever reason, Reaper was not in the mood to hunt, or eat. Neither when Death was awoken, both demons didn’t want to hunt down food of their own, or was even hungry at all. Looking completely uninterested at the meat in front of them.

 

The father sighed, scratching his head, there wasn’t much else he could do. So he let Death go back to sleep, and Reaper just… laid down? Since when did Reaper get lazy?

  
  


Gaster was awake himself, a little farther off, glancing over his map as he tried to figure out some kind of plan for himself. He still wished Aster and the demons a good morning, as well as Papyrus once the young skeleton came out of the carriage, though he didn’t approach them or anything.

 

Papyrus stood close to Aster, arms akimbo as he glanced down at the unnaturally lazy demons. “ARE THEY… OKAY???” He asked concerned. There seemed to be untouched fish, too. Papyrus hadn’t seen either of them like that since they had kept Death chained up as their prisoner…

  
  


“I… Don’t know.” Aster said hesitantly, glancing at the demons next to him. “Maybe they sense the tension between all of us?”

 

  
“OWWW,” Papyrus cooed regretfully. He dropped down to his knees to pet Reaper’s skull. “IT’S OKAY, YOU DO NOT NEED TO WORRY ABOUT US!!! WE’LL FIGURE OUT OUR PROBLEMS, AND ONCE WE HAVE A PLAN, WE’LL LET YOU KNOW AND ASK WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT IT!!!”

  
  


Reaper only looked the other way, not saying anything. Hearth walked up to the little campfire Aster had already made, giving Gaster a quick good morning when he left the carriage.

 

He sat on the floor near the fire, looking at the two skeleton monsters tiredly. “How are you two this morning?” Some shit chat, nice Hearth, you are a smart man when you wake up.

  
  


“FOUR,” Papyrus reminded him, still giving the bigger of the two demons head rubs. “AND I DON’T KNOW… I’M KIND OF WORRIED… I HOPE THEY’RE OKAY…”

  
  


Hearth rubbed his eyes, “Oh? Their awake? Sorry.”

  
  


Grillby followed out of the carriage as well after a little bit, nodding them all a good morning. Sans was the only one still asleep, though Gaster  _ had _ said he would have to have a word with him the following day - which was today - which  _ might _ be a reason why Sans was… avoiding.

  
  


“It’s alright Hearth, but yes, I am worried too. It’s not like them to not eat…” Aster complained, looking down at the sleeping demons, both of them, not just one, but both of them now.

 

“Huh…” Hearth said in thought, not really able to think that much this early, but getting the gist of it. “Maybe they woke up in a bad mood?” He offered.

  
  


“They’re not eating?” Grillby asked concerned. “Are they sick maybe…?” His fire magic didn’t disturb Death’s own magic, did it…? But even if it did, that wouldn’t explain why Reaper was affected, too.

 

“I COULD TRY TO HEAL THEM?” Papyrus offered, but Grillby quickly shook his head.

 

“No, no. I think that would do more damage than good, no offense.”

  
  


“But it still doesn’t make sense!” Aster cried, “They are the demons that eat, that’s their type! Even when sick, they still eat more than they should, now they are eating less than any normal standard!” Maybe they were just very picky on what they want, or they are just too tired to hunt and chew food!

 

He wished Sans could at least get through to Death, so Death can help get through to Reaper as well.

  
  


And Sans actually, finally got out of the carriage too, slouching tiredly. But he didn’t get as far as to join the others, flinching when he already heard Gaster call his name. For a small moment Sans waited, hoping if he ignored him, Gaster would just let him off the hook… But it only took a few seconds before he said,

 

“I know you’ve heard me, Sans. We need to talk.”

 

Letting out a groan of annoyance Sans walked up to the warlock. He sat down next to him, his posture still slouched, though it wasn’t a relaxed slouch, it was a lazy slouch. One that gave off how little Sans cared about whatever was to come. A great start.

 

“What… happened yesterday?” Gaster asked, his tone wary, but held back.

 

Sans, though, already felt annoyance grow inside him. “hearth touched death,” Sans muttered, already pissed.

  
“Hearth touched Death?”   
  
“in…appropriately…”   
  


“...Oh,” Gaster replied, and at least he seemed to somewhat realize that that hadn’t been okay on  _ Hearth’s  _ front. But he still didn’t seem pleased. “And you think your reaction was appropriate?”

 

_ Yes, _ Sans wanted to hiss out. Hearth  _ knew _ Death was mated to Sans, he  _ knew _ he wasn’t supposed to touch him. And if that  _ still _ didn’t keep him from,  _ someone _ had to teach it to him the hard way.

 

But he realized that probably wasn’t the kind of answer Gaster wanted.

 

“I’ve noticed how… possesive you are over Death,” Gaster noted, to which Sans bristled.

 

“‘e’s my  _ mate! _ ” Of  _ course _ he would be possessive of him.

 

“He is  _ also _ a person,” Gaster reminded. “Who has friends and relations  _ outside  _ your mateship. Sometimes people will touch him.”   
  
Not if Sans will stop them first. Gaster seemed to pick up on Sans’ displeasure about this whole situation and let out a sigh.

 

“I’m not trying to tell you to let people take away your mate,” he assured him. “I am just saying that I believe that you sometimes react… too soon. Too extremely. You’re letting your demonic urges show and you can’t  _ control _ it anymore.”   
  
“i don’ wanna control ‘em,” Sans grumbled out. “‘m just protectin’ death.”   
  
“You’re  _ threatening _ and  _ attacking _ people who never meant to take him away from you. Sans, I’m just worried. Worried you might go too far one day, hurt someone innocent…”   
  
“y’ don’  _ get _ it, do you?” Sans hissed back annoyed. “ _ you _ don’ have a mate t’ protect. a mate who’s bein’ fuckin’ lusted after by  _ both _ the priests. priests that  _ know _ ‘e’s mine and they  _ still  _ ‘ave the fuckin’ gall to touch  _ my _ demon where they’re not supposed to!”   
  
Gaster blinked, surprised at the outburst, shocked. But he stayed calm. “...You’re right. I don’t understand. But do you really want this to be the reason to-”   
  
“ _ i’m protectin’ my mate, damn it! _ ” Sans snapped at him, raising his voice a little. He got up from his spot, no longer willing to have this discussion. Gaster called after him, both angry, but also helpless, but Sans ignored him completely, instead simply sitting down next to Death silently.

 

He wasn’t saying a word, but he leaned into Death the smallest bit. Not a lot, not enough for others to immediately notice, not enough for it to seem like cuddling. Just a little, enough for them to be touching. To feel the others presence.


	39. forced care revenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Content Warning: mild sexual shit**

Death woke up when Aster nudged the demon, now that Sans was here, maybe he could get the demons to eat. “Sans, I’m glad you're here, can you maybe convince them to eat? They haven’t even touched their food.” 

 

The smaller demon was mostly very tired and very grumpy, but when Death saw Sans, he scooted away to not touch him, but being as close to the monster as possible at the same time. It was like the demon wanted to touch Sans but held himself back, staying close instead. His head was almost touching Sans’ hip, his face hiding in his arms when he didn’t give quick glancing at Sans sometimes to check if he still looked mad or was ignoring the demon.

 

While Death was curled into a ball, Reaper ignored the nudging from his father to wake up, even giving a push at his father to leave him alone.

  
  


Sans wasn’t actually in the mood to… well, for anything right now. Not after this kind of conversation with his dad. Not when Death had already scrambled away from him, and Sans didn’t exactly have the energy to follow, to tell him he  _ wanted _ him close right now…

 

But hearing neither of the demons ate today was concerning, and… Death  _ had _ made sure Sans would eat when he hadn’t. It was only fair for Sans to do the same, and maybe encouraging Death to eat would also make Reaper follow up.

 

He picked up one of the fishes, scooting closer to the curled up demon. “death, c’mon,” he tried to coo, but his tone carried a hint of apathy. “y’ gotta eat somethin’... please?”

  
  


Death glanced at the fish in his face, then moving back to hiding in his crossed arms, frowning the whole time. One of his wings unfurled to cover his head, like a curtain. Aster sighed at the result, glancing at the flames then at Sans and Papyrus helplessly. 

 

“Uhh…” Hearth muttered, looking between the demon and Sans with hidden shock. Yes Sans sounded like he didn’t care that much, but…. he did, why else would he be so protective of Death, it was just his imagination! Yeah, that’s what it was.

  
  


Sans let out an uncomfortable noise, worry growing in the pit of his stomach at the dismissive reaction. Why wouldn’t he eat? He  _ always _ ate!

 

“death, ‘m not gonna let y’ starve yourself,” he said, his tone now slightly annoyed, though it was mostly him being stressed and worried and panicked. “can y’ please just eat for me?”    
  
He put one hand on Death’s wing to gently pull it away to reveal Death again.

  
  


But the face was still covered by his arms, that were firmly in place, unwilling to move it all. Only when Death turned his body so his back was facing Sans did the arms move, but it went back to hiding the demons face right after.

 

Death grumbled under his breath, almost sounding like he said ‘no’, but it wasn’t even half formed and might not even be meant to be said.

  
  


“death you gotta  _ eat, _ ” Sans almost whined out. He scooted around the demon until he was facing him again, taking both of Death’s wrists into his hand to pull his arms away from his face. 

 

“y’ gotta take  _ care _ of y’reself!” Sans said, his worried eyelights looking deep into Death’s as he held the fish to his face again.

  
  


“not hu’gry.” The demon murmured, turning his head away from the fish, mouth closed shut.

  
  


“‘m not  _ askin’  _ you anymore,” Sans huffed out. Death had to eat, even if he wasn’t hungry for  _ some _ reason, Death was  _ always _ hungry. He couldn’t just go from eating two giant killer catfishes in one day to not eating at all.

 

So he let go of Death’s wrists, to instead go to his mouth and try to force it open to place the fish inside.

  
  


Death instantly struggled, squirming away and bolting to the tree he slept in for the night, climbing it like it was as easy as running. The demon made little unhappy clicks and hisses.

 

  
Sans grumbled slightly in annoyance, before hurrying after Death. He wasn’t very good at climbing, didn’t have the claws or agility to. But his mate was up there, was up there and refusing to  _ eat _ so Sans found his way, hanging to one of the branches unsteadily.

 

“ _ death, _ ” he said, his tone a single warning. “come back ‘ere an’ eat.”

  
  


“why.” Death grumbled, not really asking, more so wanting to say something while he watched Sans struggle not to fall. The demon even got the idea of just pushing the monster off, but he had a feeling that won’t end well.

  
  


“‘cause ‘m fuckin’  _ worried _ ‘bout you!” Sans whined out, desperately trying to get closer to Death. “why would y’ve force fed  _ me _ when i didn’ eat! an’ you usually eat  _ so much more! _ ” Why was it so hard for the demon to just  _ eat _ something? At least a  _ little. _

  
  


Death stuck his tongue out, “pfftt!” turning around and flopping on the thick branch with attitude. Mouth as far away from Sans as possible and his butt to the monster, tail swinging around like it was ready to push Sans away.

 

But… To get to Death’s mouth, Sans would have to climb on top of the demon, pinning him so he wouldn’t get away, but with being on a branch, it could be hard.

  
  


Sans grumbled under his breath. How stubborn could this demon  _ be? _ He had to get to him _ somehow, _ though, so Sans began scooting forward on the branch to get to him, actually making an attempt to climb over him…

 

Only for Sans to slip with a startled yelp, quickly grabbing onto Death, pulling him with him as he fell off the branch.

  
  


Death yelped as he was tugged down to the ground, his claws scrambling to grab and firmly hold himself, but he fell anyways. The claws slipping and cutting through the skin of the branch, he fell on Sans. Already wiggling and moving away to get off his mate. He backed up to the tree, not turning away from the monster, his butt hitting the trunk of the tree as he glared at Sans. 

 

He hissed, baring his teeth, glaring at the monster like he was daring him to come closer. Not that he would ever hurt Sans, ever…. but he would prefer Sans forget that and just leave him to sulk.

  
  


But Sans wouldn’t. He was sick of chasing Death, the demon refusing to eat, refusing to  _ listen. _ Sans would put an end to it, once and for all.

 

He practically pounced Death as  _ soon  _ as he got his bearings back, using one hand to trap the other’s wrists again, on the ground above Death’s skull. He still needed to get the demon’s mouth open, though, if he wanted to feed them, which would be a problem…   
  


If there wouldn’t still be a very strong, very prominent memory of  _ Death _ doing almost the same thing to him in his head, and Sans decided to follow his own mate’s example. His teeth hovered over the other’s neck for a second or two, finding the mark. Before he sunk them in.

  
  


Death gasped loud, his back arching into Sans’ body, his mouth opening wide. The gasp turned into a almost silent moan, his body freezing up and going lax. 

  
  


Sans hummed pleased, but didn’t let go of Death’s neck just yet. Instead he finally took the fish and put it into the demon’s mouth, hoping Death would at least  _ now _ eat it.

  
  


Death looked at Sans from the corner of his sockets, tears in his eyes as he whimpered into the fish. His teeth slowly chewing on it, like he was hoping for Sans’ approval, just like his mate did for him. 

 

The demon slowly started eating the fish, going way slower than he would usually, but at least he was eating. He ate everything but the head of the fish, sinking his teeth slowly and carefully into the head, before spitting it out, really not in the mood to chew through the skull like he would normally. He whined at Sans softly, looking up at him almost pleading.

  
  


For a small moment Sans still kept his teeth buried in him, humming, making small noises of approval. But he decided to have mercy on the demon, finally letting go, licking over the now re-opened wound caringly.

 

“y’ did good,” he purred out quietly, tongue still lapping up the blood. “y’ did great. thank you.”

  
  


Death still whimpered at him, raising his butt until it could go as far as it could go, which was Sans’ crotch. The demon whined and wiggled his butt, putting himself in a position of offering just like he did when they first had sex.

 

Seems like biting into a sub mate’s mark really gets them in the mood to be dominated. Death looked over his shoulder to give Sans a lust filled look, sockets half lidded and his tongue hanging out slightly. Pushing his already formed mound against Sans as much as he could.

  
  


Sans eyes widened surprised at the reaction, feeling the soft magic against his own crotch. He hadn’t expected it, hadn’t expected it  _ at all, _ but damn did it make him feel hot. The small noises he was making, the offering position, the beautiful, lustful look.

 

Oh fuck, he really didn’t expect things to go  _ this _ way, but Sans  _ wanted _ him.  _ Needed  _ him. And he knew Death was on the same boat, the only problem was that  _ everyone _ could see them.

 

So he let go of Death’s wrists momentarily, instead collecting the small demon up in his arms as he got up. He didn’t even tell the others where they were going, just rushing into the forest, not stopping until they were out of sight.

  
  


Death wiggled weakly into Sans, whining into the other’s neck softly. He pressed his body to the monster, licking at the bone with small kitten licks. His tail moving around to go behind Sans, rubbing Sans’ butt, sliding the tip down between Sans’ moving legs to rub against the pelvis.

  
  


Sans groaned at the bit of friction on his pelvis, rutting slightly into it. But he couldn’t for long, was already lying Death on his back on the floor so he was kneeling on top of him, bodies close together. He was peppering Death with kisses, every part he could reach from his neck to over his skull, grinding ever so slightly into him.

  
  


Death squirmed in his spot, feeling so exposed with his underside facind his mate when they were planning to mate. In mating sessions, he would very much rather have his back facing the one mating him. It was mostly instinct and his animal side of him screaming that, to not be completely at the mercy at the one sticking their dick im him. 

 

But Sans was someone he could trust… someone who would understand that this position made him uncomfortable. 

 

So he whined at the monster on top of him, trying to turn in his place to go on his hands and feet. But the way Sans was holding him, the way the others arms were position made it not possible to turn more than half way. The demon whined at Sans, wiggling around to turn more.

  
  


For a small, confused moment Sans just whined back. He wanted to turn around? But why, Sans wanted to see him, the faces he would make, wouldn’t Death want the same? But he remembered after a bit that Death wouldn’t leave his stomach-side open very easily in the first place, and… if he was uncomfortable this way, Sans didn’t want to force him to anything.

 

He lifted himself up a little so he wasn’t all over Death anymore, giving him enough space to move.

  
  


Death turned around fully, giving out a purr in glee, lifting his backside to present it to his mate. Death looked back at Sans his half lidded eyes, his eye lights forming, hazy and large, staring back at Sans with adoration. 

 

“i am yers my mate.” Death purred, wiggling his butt to Sans, one of his hands pulling off the leather pants Comic had never changed down to his knees, struggling to stay on his feet without losing balance. Showing his needy mound ready for Sans.

  
  


Sans hummed admiringly, feeling so much love for the demon as his eyes caught with Death’s. He sunk down until he was at the height of Death’s butt, eying the cute, glistening mound. Fuuuck, why did he have to look so good, smell so good,  _ taste _ so good.

  
Sans gave a long, tasting lick over the dripping folds, his hands already going down to his own pants to undo them.

 

“ _ so good, _ ” he groaned, his mouth still right on Death’s pussy, sending vibrations through it.

  
  


Death shivered as the tongue oh so deliciously ran through his wet folds, sending bolts of pleasure to run all over his body. But the shivering and the now growing weakness in the legs plus pants that are restricting you are not a good combination. Losing his balance and falling to his side, yelping in surprise.

  
  


Sans kept his head between the demons legs, even after he fell over, glancing up at Death with big eyes.

 

“y’ ok, precious?” He asked, his mouth still close to the other’s mound, but not licking anymore. He let his hands wander from his own pants to Death’s, pulling them off wholly to not tip him off balance again.

 

Death grumbled in embarrassment, huffing at the other. Shaking his legs to give Sans an easier time taking his pants off before going back to his hands and feet, “never ‘appened, now please me.” Death commanded, shoving his privates into Sans face.

  
  


Sans snorted, but didn’t argue, instead just putting both his hands on Death’s legs as he dug in once more. His tongue made it’s way between the folds, running from the small sensitive nub to his entrance, but never quite in. Only circling around it sometimes, dipping his tip the smallest bit, teasing.

 

But he found himself already being loud, god was he loud. He was moaning into Death’s folds, humming, groaning. Sometimes he even pulled his tongue back again to let out strings of whispered or moaned out praise.

  
  


Death wasn’t much better, his walls squeezing and opening, wanting oh so bad to be filled, the demon whined and moaned into the ground, panting Sans’ name every time Sans brushed against something that made his body arch and his eyes to roll.

  
  


Sans didn’t make him wait for much longer, though. He was needy himself, had already gotten his pants off, his dick standing hard and proud. He moved his face away from Death’s mound again, licking juices off from around his mouth.   
  
“y’ ready, love?” He purred out, but he didn’t need an answer to know that he was. He got up onto his knees until he was at the right height to finally lead his dick to Death’s welcoming entrance, pushing it in with one, slow but fluid motion.

 

Sans let out a guttural groan as he did so, bending over until he was almost lying over Death’s back, face in the demon’s neck.


	40. peeping toms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **content warning: sexual content**

Hearth panted lowly into his palm, turning away from everyone. He was thankful that the skeletons started doing their own things now, and only his brother was there with him, able to hear what was going on. The fire monster even scooted a bit closer to listen better as well, “Damn.” he muttered.

  
  


And of course Grillby heard the noises too, feeling himself growing more hot and bothered the more he listened to them. To the groans and moans, the small whines and whimpers, whispers he could make out as a noise, but not as words.

 

But he still felt a rush of both second-hand embarrassment and annoyance when his brother seemed to get even closer to the source, like he was trying to find them altogether, just watch or even join. 

 

“Give them some privacy,” Grillby hissed as he came up beside his brother, his voice a hushed whisper. But… it wasn’t like he was backing off either now that he had gotten closer as well, having ‘followed’ Hearth’s lead.

  
  


Hearth scoffed at his brother, moving farther away from him, using his brother as means to get closer by ‘wanting some space’ apart. His gaze looking through the trees. “Back off man, I’m just… looking for… food. Yeah, I’ll, uh, see you later.” He waved at his brother as he walked deeper into the forest.

  
  


Grillby watched Hearth scramble off into the forest, smelling the lie from miles away. Shit, was he actually…? Should he  _ follow…? _ Did he  _ want _ to follow and possibly find out what ever gross things his brother was about to do…?   
  
But then again, last time Grillby had just decided to leave him be he’d… fucked up majorly. And it wasn’t like he thought Hearth would  _ repeat _ that kind of error, but… he still didn’t want to stand here and  _ risk _ anything.

 

So he actually followed, rushing through the forest after his brother, to the sound of distant but very apparent sweet sex noises…

  
  


Hearth lowered his flames as much as he could, ducking down while he looked for the two skeletons. He managed to find them not long after, his breath catching when he saw Sans pounding into Death’s sweet little ass.

 

Hmm.

 

Sans’ ass looks pretty nice from here too…

 

Gosh just look at Death wiggle under him, that face he is making, and those sweet noises coming from it. It was entrancing… But wow, Sans looks so good too! That nice little glowing dick entering that sweet little pussy, it looked so cute. They both looked so cute! Damn, well at least Sans got some good thrust movement, he really working that demon ass pretty good if Death’s face had anything to say to it.

 

Damn, he could watch them all day, and he planned to milk this as much as he could, mesmerizing it all. He sat down and pulled out his aching dick, pumping it to match Sans’ thrusts, his other hand going to his mouth to cover it…

  
  


It was only a matter of minutes, though, until Grillby caught up with Hearth. And he turned around as soon as he saw what was going on, almost letting out a surprised noise of disgust, not exactly having wanted to see his older brother dick in hand. But he swallowed the noise, mindful of not getting the skeletons attention, instead just hissing out a small, “God damn it, Hearth.”

 

But then there was something else that caught Grillby’s eyes, something  _ so much  _ better… or worse?

 

His eyes widened as he spotted the two skeletons, Sans on top of Death, their bodies so close as Sans thrusted into him. The wet slamming noises, the sweet moans and whines, they were so much more pronounced, though. And Grillby could see  _ everything. _ Could see Death’s cute faces, could see where Sans kept entering the other skeleton, could see him burying his face into Death’s neck.   
  
And  _ yet _ he wanted to see more. Wanted to see them more close up. Wanted to see Sans’ face. Wanted to see them both rid of their clothes, vulnerable but safe underneath him…

 

Damn it, Grillby, get it together.

  
  


Hearth shushed him, scooting into a bush so his front side was hiding in the leaves. “Shut up dude, told you not to follow!” He whispered furiously. But he himself shut up when Death started to whimper more, sounding more desperate and uncontrolled, humping into Sans’ dick and…. oh! He was about to cum. He looks so cute oh my lord!

 

The demon came soon after, his walls spamming and clenching down on the dick into him. He went limp after, making soft whimpers with every move Sans made.

  
  


Grillby shut up as well, simply blocking his own brother out as he instead focused on the two coupling lovebirds. Fuck, this was so wrong. This was wrong on so many levels, listening in was wrong,  _ watching _ them was so fucking wrong. How much all of this aroused him… The elemental was already slightly palming the tent in his own crotch, breathing a bit heavier than usually… It was so  _ wrong. _

 

But how could he not? How could he not when Death was whimpering so sweetly. When he could easily see the way Sans tightened his hold on Death, slamming in harder and faster as he was chasing his own orgasm.

 

Grillby couldn’t see  _ that, _ but Sans was also biting into the mark again, teeth simply digging back into the own wound, while his movements began slightly to stutter. He was whining himself, groaning and moaning, before he finally came with a last slam into Death, hilting fully as he filled him up.

 

Grillby watched small drops of cum drizzle out of Death as Sans slowly relaxed on top of him, whispering quick words of love.

  
  


Death relaxing in his grip, turning his head enough to give small little kitten licks on Sans’ nose. The demon looked up at him with half lidded sockets, looking a mix of nervous and happy. 

 

“‘re… ya...hah… still mad… at me?” He asked weakly, laying his head down on the ground as he tried to see Sans’ face through his position, whimpering when Sans or him moved with them conjoined from their nether regions and his neck. “didn’... think ya… hah hah… would get upset…. fer dat.”

 

“‘m sorry.” He didn’t mean to let out a sad whimper when he sad the last two words, wincing and looking away when he noticed. 

  
  


Sans let go of Death’s neck slowly, slow enough that for some moments he could feel the blood dripping off his teeth. He licked over the wound a couple of times, before letting his dark magic seal it up and finally looking back at Death.

 

“i… know…,” he breathed out, his voice slightly strained from his own panting. “...’m sorry, too… for makin’ y’ feel bad. i just… wish y’ would’ve cared more… ‘s gotten us all in trouble. an’ we  _ trusted _ you…” Yes, Death hadn’t been aware he was doing something wrong, but that didn’t make it any less hurtful for Sans.

 

But it meant that Death didn’t  _ mean _ to hurt him, that Death hadn’t even realized he  _ was _ hurting him and… that was at least  _ something.  _ He nuzzled his face gently into Death to let him know that, even if he was still a little upset about it, he loved him. Cared about him. So much.

  
  


“but…. why?” Death asked, closing his sockets and leaning into the others head, one of his arms going around to hug it and keep his head close to his.

  
  


Sans let out a small, thoughtful hum. He knew what he felt, but how was he supposed to explain it? To a demon?

 

“i… we were havin’ fun…” Sans began, his tone quiet, but head close to Death’s. “grillby gave y’ the fire an’ i was so  _ happy _ seein’ you excited as this. i guess i jus’ thought t’ was gonna be nice, but… for me, watchin’ other people’s lives burn down to ashes before their eyes is… not nice…”

 

He took a deep breath, scared that Death would take it in wrong. He knew Death had a different perception of things, maybe didn’t quite understand why it’d be wrong, but… He  _ asked. _ That was Sans’ answer.

 

“i guess i kinda felt… used. like, i wan’ed somethin’ nice an’ y’ took our trust an’ grillby’s fire and destroyed someone’s home with it…”

  
  


“but….. but i was bein’ yer dragon……” Death muttered, looking in front of him to space off. It didn’t last long, he frowned and looked at Sans as much as he could with his back turned to him. “dey deserved it! dey bad, dat’ wha dey get!” He huffed, glaring at the skeleton on top of him.

  
  


“...we don’ know if they were bad,” Sans cooed quietly, worried. But he took a deep breath, deciding to give Death a fair chance. “...what… wha’ did they do?” He asked softly.

  
  


“bad.” Death growled, “dey…. ‘urt us, it all ‘urt! dey…. uh… i.. don’.... hmmm.” Death stopped and looked at the ground, letting go of Sans’ head to rub at his own head, like it was in pain.

 

“i don’ remember…” He whispered, sounding stressed and confused. “dey just deserve it, i know. i feel it.”

  
  


Sans frowned, sad and worried at his mate. There was obviously something fishy going on here. Either Death  _ actually _ coincidentally knew those people from his past life, or… or he was just mixing things up. But how was Sans supposed to tell them his feeling is just  _ wrong? _

 

“death… i… think y’ might be a bit… confused,” he muttered out eventually, his tone wary. “we’ve never met ‘em before, they… they didn’ do  _ anything _ to any of us…”

  
  


Death growled at the monster, but before he can open his mouth to reply, he heard a sharp pained yelp. Death quickly turned his head to look at the source, his body tense and ready to fight….. almost.

 

He was laying on his stomach, but quickly got on his hands and feet, lifting himself up, bring Sans with him to awkwardly lay on his back. But his body was tense, his muscles and bones clenching so hard to push himself to attack, meaning his oh so sore and sensitive  walls snapped down on Sans’ dick impossiably hard, making Death stutter in his movements when he got up.

  
  


Death wasn’t the only one sensitive, though, and Sans ended up letting out a pained yelp himself, feeling his now soft dick getting squeezed on so hard.

  
  


Hearth had finished at one point, letting his jizz fly into the leaves of the bush, he didn’t move away from the bush before, but now he was regretting it. Something was in the bush, after he released himself in there, after calming down completely something came up to his dick and bit into it, making him yell out in pain.

  
  


Sans was glancing around wildly, staying on top of Death protectively. Though there wasn’t a lot he could do to protect, he was stuck inside Death, scared to pull out with how tight he was clenching down, and couldn’t exactly move a lot this way.

 

“ _ who’s there!? _ ” He growled, his voice loud and daring, but also… scared.

  
  


Hearth scrambled away from the bush, hitting and pulling at the weird looking animal from his dick, bumping into his brother and making them both fall out from their hiding places, being in full view of the two skeletons. But that didn’t matter at the moment, something was still biting him, so he did the only thing left, he made the flames on his dick more wild, burning the animal, making it let go and run off.

  
  


“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Grillby was cursing hastily, as he was now sitting on his ass on the ground out in the open. Well, his own dick wasn’t in view for everyone to stare at like his brother’s was, but there was still a tent in his own pants, the fabric of them moist where it outlined the dick.

 

But what was much, much more concerning was the furious glare they both got from Sans, the skeleton looking over his shoulder with his back turned to them. “ _ you were watching, _ ” he growled, his tone so deeply angry and… betrayed?

  
  


Death’s body relaxed ever so slightly, wiggling around until Sans’ cock slipped out of him, shuttering at the dick moving inside him. Death turned to look at the flames, cum dripping from his opening, but only Sans can see that. The flames could only see a unamused and slightly annoyed Death, with cum drops falling here and there.

 

But even if Hearth couldn’t see the demons opening, his dick still stood high and mighty just watching Death, his legs and pelvis exposed like that, if only Death wasn’t on his fours, then he could get a better view….

  
  


But like hell Sans even would  _ let _ them see anything.

 

He made sure Death stayed behind him at all times, covering the elemental’s view with his own body, uncaring of if they would see Sans himself exposed that way. He didn’t want them looking at  _ his _ mate in this state, didn’t want them looking like  _ that _ at him. He already hated the idea they probably had been watching them… for a while, the thought making him feel violated and angry.

 

“ _ what _ d’ you think you’re  _ doin’!? _ ” He hissed at them, his voice snapping and accusing.

 

He could see the way Grillby panicked, eyes wide and voice stammering. “We… we were hunting… we didn’t know you were…-”   
  
“ _ bullshit,”  _ Sans hissed before he could finish though. Maybe the skeleton couldn’t quite think all straight when he was growling at the monster livid, but he wasn’t  _ stupid. _ Wasn’t blind enough to not see their damn arousal about what they’ve  _ seen. _

  
  


Death on the other hand, didn’t care about what Sans was worried about, he was more focused on what Sans  _ wasn’t  _ worried about. He went behind Sans and encircled his arms around his mate’s waist, hiding the exposed soft dick hanging there. One hand grabbed it, making it clear that he had full control over it, while the other arm covers it.

 

“my cock, go ‘way.” He growled, pulling Sans close, his wings moving to cover Sans’ body more.

  
  


Sans gasped a little as he felt the hand on his dick, but he didn’t say anything about it, instead simply leaning slightly into Death’s hold. 

 

“ _ go ‘way, _ ” he hissed as well, his voice a bit more subdued now that he had his mate around him, but it was still assertive.

 

“I- I’m leaving!” Grillby said quickly. He scrambled off the ground, hands raised to his chest in a placating manner. “I’m leaving. S-Sorry…”   
  
He was already about to turn and head back to the camp - or at least away from the skeletons, maybe not to the camp  _ yet, _ with a tent like this in his pants - before he stopped to look back at his brother. “Come on, Hearth. We should go.”

  
  


Hearth scrambled right after him, tucking his dick in his pants as much as possible.

 

Once they were sure both flames were gone, Death looked up at Sans and whined at him, giving a soft kitten lick to the exposed hip bone from inside his little cocoon. “ok?” His tail was around one of Sans’ legs, squeezing lightly to get his attention.

  
  


Sans relaxed, slowly turning around to face his mate, crouching down to be at his height. “‘m alright…” He muttered out quietly, putting his arms around Death to hold him close. “...jus’ kinda… ugh. they saw… us……” He curled in on himself a little, face close to Death and arms still around him, though. “...are you ok?”

  
  


Death hugged Sans close, humming in Sans’ neck, “it’ okay, dey know yer mine, dey saw me be with ya, mine. all mine.” Death pushed Sans until he fell on his butt, crawling over him to cuddle into his chest, purring softly at the closeness.

  
  


Sans didn’t even mind being pushed back, simply putting his arms around him comfortably, feeling warm and happy at the closeness. “all yours…,” he agreed quietly, hugging the demon close.

  
_ He was Death’s. _ No matter what would happen, how far the priests would go, what they wanted, Sans was Death’s and Death was Sans’... They both carried each others mark, each others smell… Each other’s love.  _ No one _ could take that from them.


	41. yer my dick

Once they felt like they were ready, they cleaned themselves up and walked back to camp, where Death forced food down Reaper’s throat, almost losing a hand in the process. 

 

The flames didn’t come back in a while but when they did, things started to heat up. Right when the flames had come back, a few minutes later people starting jumping out of the trees and bushes. Their formation was messy and they didn’t look like they knew what the hell they were doing, but they had pitchforks and torches, so the group had to take them seriously. 

 

It didn’t take a mastermind to figure out it was the farmers wanting revenge. Death yelping at being suddenly cornered, he wanted so bad to rip everyone apart, but Sans’ words made it hard to move.

 

But… That wasn’t the only reason, the pitchforks and torches… they looked so familiar. Reaper and Death stared at the weapons in horror, their bodies felt like it was stuck in place, like it disappeared and the only thing there was your vision.

  
  


Though he had still been farther off, Gaster was quick to react. He casted a spell, a shockwave of dark magic around their group, hitting the farmers to not…  _ harm _ them, but still push them back a little. He jumped onto the carriage quickly, already calling for the others.

 

“Everyone, get on!” He called out. “Let’s go, quick!” They didn’t need to end up in a fight  _ again. _ Not with farmers, frightened farmers who didn’t stand a chance.

 

“ _ le’s go, _ ” Sans muttered hurried, panicked to Death, already taking the small demon’s hand and heading to follow Papyrus into the carriage.

  
  


Reaper was also dragged by Papyrus, both demons were pushed in, the flame brothers and Aster were already inside. Reaper stared out as the carriage moved, watching flashes come into his head, angry faces, his body hurt, his stomach most of all. 

 

Death was very similar, yet still aware of his surroundings, he looked at Sans with a weird expression. “‘m sorry…”

  
  


Sans held onto Death tightly, shaken from the situation and… concerned. He looked down at his mate, eyes wide and worried. “what d’ you mean…?” He asked quietly. “you didn’ do anything wrong…”

 

Death looked around, through the hole with lots of angry people running for them, “dis ‘s all me…”

 

They all stayed in the carriage for who knows how long. The farmers attacked midday, and they stopped almost at night, they stayed near a little lake, everyone getting out slowly. Aster looked at the direction they came, trying to see some sort of light from the torches, but saw nothing. 

 

“We should be safe.” He muttered, glancing at Reaper holding Papyrus close and Death curled up in a ball on Sans’ side, hiding every part of him with his wings.

 

Hearth and Grillby were stretching, looking around. Aster decided to check on Gaster, walking over to the bench at the front of the carriage. “Are you alright my friend?”

  
  


Gaster glanced towards Aster with wide eyes. After last night he was… surprised Aster was still checking on him like that. It felt… nice.

 

“I am troubled,” he admitted, his voice regretful. “The farmers all seem to be aware of the demons… of  _ us _ now. It will make traveling through these lands a lot more… challenging.”   
  
Let alone convincing anyone the demons were good. Or teaching the demons they shouldn’t attack. If the  _ farmers _ attacked first, not even Gaster was going to tell the demons not to attack, not as long as it was self-defense at least.

  
  


Aster sighed, rubbing the back of his neck and looking away, “Yes… It would be best to leave these grounds all together, head somewhere else.” Aster looked towards the boys, then at the carriage. “I suggest we go to a town and get as much supplies as we could, fix the carriage, and get out of here as soon as possible.”

  
  


“There is a town nearby, but… I’m afraid the farmers might have already warned them about us.”  _ Warned _ sounded so extreme… Like they were dangerous, a hazard, and… Gaster hated the thought of that. They had merely done a mistake. Would they not have chased them away, Gaster would’ve gladly assisted repairing the damage any way he could have.

 

He got his map out of his small bag on him, looking it over. There were a few more smaller villages around the area, but Gaster ignored them, instead pointing at a bigger city, maybe a few days travel away.    
  


“Maybe here?” He suggested to the other monster. “It is farther away, but the distance gives it a smaller chance that word about us has traveled this far. And even if, with a bigger population it is unlikely everyone would know and we would blend in more…”

  
  


Aster nodded, looking exhausted. “Sounds like a plan, let’s just set camp here and head out in the morning. I hope we can catch some kind of animal to eat, too. We left a lot of supplies…” He looked at his two sons, wondering if he should ask now or later to help get them food, or just ask the flame brothers instead.

  
  


“...Indeed we did,” he mused, glancing back to the carriage wagon, like he could see their remaining bags through the walls. He couldn’t, but he did have an image of the bags they left behind… It weren’t all, of course, and they should still have their most important things, but… it was still troublesome. 

 

“I think we should rest for the night,” Gaster said, though. “We can see about food in the morning.”

  
  


Aster hummed, already going to the others to tell them their plans. He wasn’t surprised really and most of them didn’t want to sleep in the carriage, and would prefer to stay outside. 

 

Reaper had actually crawled under the carriage, the big wheels lifting the carriage high enough for the big demon to crawl under. Death followed his brother soon after, small enough to just duck under and lay down with Reaper.

 

He didn’t exactly want to leave Sans, but it wasn’t like Sans wasn’t allowed to follow him. Besides, he would rather stay out of the fire monsters view for now. It has been awkward sharing the carriage with them, mostly just curling up to Sans’ side and ignoring them, not even wanting to look at them. 

  
  


Sans decided hiding under the carriage seemed like a damn good plan, too, and tiredly followed the demons, tugging Papyrus by his hand with him. The younger brother ended up smushing himself to Reaper, while Sans cuddled up close to Death, one arm around him, getting lots of licks and purrs from the demon, guess the demon is really into cuddle time now. Staying as far away from the elementals as possible seemed just fine by him.

 

Grillby could tell they were avoiding them. Well, he could tell they were hiding underneath the carriage and… it felt a whole lot like they were hiding. And it… hurt. But Grillby knew they… kind of deserved it.

  
  


Hearth was on the same boat as his brother, looking longingly at the demon that was curled around Sans, his tail and wings surrounding the monster just like his arms and legs. It was like the demon was a sloth that never wanted to let go, like he wanted to take you over and stick to you until he molds into you.

 

Gosh he wished he had that, lucky ass Sans. He is taking the demon for granted, if  _ he  _ was the one getting cuddled like that, he would cradle and coo at the demon, kiss him all over and tell him how special he is. But he couldn’t, he did something horrible and he can’t even get close now.

  
  


Sans was nuzzling into his mate, feeling comfortable and safe cocooned into the demon’s wings. He could barely see him with the wings blocking off the little light the evening still gave, but he looked up at Death anyway.

 

“...’re y’ ok?” He asked softly, concerned. It had been an exhausting, confusing day, and… Sans was worried for him.

  
  


Death hummed into the monster’s neck, turning his head to give small licks onto Sans’ cheeks. “‘’m good, ya?” His whole body was pressed against Sans’, chest to chest, the wings making it seem like they were stuck together in a small space, and Death loved every second of it.

  
  


“‘dunno,” Sans admitted quietly, cuddling up a bit closer to his mate, stealing body warmth from him. “‘s been a stressful day… i, uh… i still… can’t believe  _ they _ were…  _ watchin _ ’...”   
  
Of course he knew the elementals had had their eye on Death, but… that they would go  _ this _ far? He hadn’t ever expected it… He wasn’t sure what to think of it either… They had seemed so nice so far. Getting on Sans’ nerves with how they kept looking at his mate, yes, but they didn’t seem… like  _ this. _

  
  


Death frowned lightly, licking the side edge of Sans’ mouth. “ye, my dick, ya my dick,  _ mine  _ alone.” He nuzzled his face to the side of Sans’, giving little licks when he can. He purred into the monster, the low rumbling vibrating through his body to the other monster. “don’ worry, won’ let dem take ya ‘way.”

  
  


If Sans could purr, he’d definitely be purring back. But he couldn’t, not really, so he opted for humming quietly and comfortably into the demon, smiling softly at the kitten licks he seemed to be getting littered with.

 

He hadn’t even thought about the elementals possibly wanting  _ him. _ Why would they? He was just an unsuccessful warlock. But hearing Death claim him like that - even if he was mostly talking about his dick - made him feel… warm. And wanted.

 

“‘m more worried they wanna take you,” he admitted quietly. “‘m not gonna  _ let ‘ _ em, but…” He hugged Death a bit tighter, voice quieter. “‘t just makes me… nervous seein’ them ‘round you, knowin’ what they  _ want… _ ”

  
  


Death moved back to look at Sans directly, the little light left in the sky giving Sans a view of his face. “i will always be yers…” The demon then lowered himself to give Sans a kiss, not a animal kiss, not a lick, but a real kiss. “i love  _ ya _ , don’ worry.”

  
  


Sans felt himself melt into the kiss, letting out a small, surprised whine. Fuck, this demon was too great for him. “i love you, too,” he whispered out once he could, eyes wide and bright and the faint, glowing blush slightly illuminating the space more. “‘ll be yours too, for as long as you want me.”

  
  


“shh, mine  _ ferever _ , don’ know wha’ ferever means?” Death narrowed his sockets at the skeleton, like Sans was pulling his leg. “stop sayin’ dat” His claws moved to have a better hold on him, Sans was completely surrounded in demon, if Sans wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to run or get away from Death.

 

It was less embarrassing for Death to say this with their two brothers sleeping next to them, Death’s back pressing to Reaper stomach and his brother himself had a hand latched to his back, like a constant and secure reminder that they were there for each other.

  
  


“ok,” Sans finally replied, a soft chuckle in his voice. “forever.” But the  _ as long as he wants him _ still rang in Sans’ skull. The memory of Death waking up as  _ Comic, _ not remembering anything, and Sans’ fear of  _ Comic _ possibly not…  _ wanting _ him as a mate, it still was too fresh. Even if he had wanted him in the end, he could have just as much not.

 

And how often had Sans messed something up, gotten Death angry at him? How often had the demons attempted to run away? Sans  _ wanted  _ it to be a forever, hoped it would be a forever, but… if one day Death decided he didn’t  _ want _ Sans anymore… Sans wasn’t going to force himself onto the demon. Even if it’d physically hurt… Death’s freedom was too important for that.

  
  


Death crooned into the monster, relaxing at the words, his body melted into the other, getting himself comfortable to sleep, but before he did, he whispered one last thing. “ferever.” Before finally shutting his sockets to sleep on top of his mate.


	42. finally we get to see them hunt more

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey hey, check out the [Seath](https://ask-seath.tumblr.com/) and [Kustard](https://ask-kustard.tumblr.com/) ask blogs comic and i did for our rps!!!

“WE WILL SET UP A CAMP ONCE WE ARRIVE AT THE BIG CITY IN SOME DAYS, SO YOU CAN STAY THERE, A BIT MORE REMOTE OF THE ACTUAL CITY, WHILE WE GO IN TO STACK UP ON FOOD AND FIX OUR WAGON! DOES THAT SOUND GOOD???” Papyrus was filling the demons up on their plan, checking in once every while if they were still paying attention. Though it was questionable, at least to Sans, how much they were actually taking in, as it was still ungodly early, the others barely awake yet.

  
  


Death’s response was face planting to the floor, his face looked groggy and tired, squinting the whole time Papyrus was talking, until he just gave up and face planted into the ground. Reaper on the other hand, looked to have got it, nodding in understanding.

  
  


“DO YOU THINK YOU CAN TRY TO… NOT ATTACK PEOPLE THEN...?” Papyrus asked, his question sounding genuine, like he was just checking up to plan around whatever their answer would be. “DO NOT WORRY, WE WON’T LEAVE YOU ALONE, JUST IN CASE SOMETHING HAPPENS! BUT EVERYONE AGREED THAT WE WANT TO STAY LOW AND AVOID CONFLICT.”

 

“‘f we get in trouble wi’ th’ big city, we might gotta deal wi’ somethin’ more dangerous than some farmers…”

  
  


Reaper nodded after some thought, seeing the logic in what they were saying. “NO ATTACKING.” He said, just to show them that he got it. His brother on the other hand, let out a low snore beside him, his butt in the air and his tail and wings in a awkward position. But Reaper ignored his brother, focusing more on the two monsters in front of him.

  
  


Papyrus, however, couldn’t quite ignore him, glancing at Death concerned, before giving Sans a small glare, like it was his fault the demon was asleep. Sans, barely awake himself and leaning to his mate, simply gave him a helpless shrug.

 

“WELL…” Papyrus huffed eventually, but he looked back to Reaper with a big smile. “THANK YOU!!! IT’LL BE VERY HELPFUL! COULD YOU FILL IN DEATH TOO WHEN HE’S AWAKE, PLEASE???”

  
  


Reaper nodded, his tail wrapping around his brother, giving a few quick light pulls to warn Sans to get off before fully taking him away, depositing his brother on his back. Aster came around soon after, getting his attention, “Hello son, I hope I’m not bothering you in asking to go fetch us all some food, yes? Our supplies were left in our last campsite, so we feed more food.”

 

Reaper made a low growling sound, before turning and walking to the forest. The demon didn’t look annoyed or angry, it looked like the low growl was a response of some kind. Aster was glad his son didn’t get annoyed at his request, sighing in relief. He looked towards the two other skeletons there and nodded to them, before heading to Gaster to give him a small report.

  
  


Grillby watched the two demons leave into the forest surprised. It had been a while since Grillby and Hearth weren’t the ones to catch their food, though it did make sense. Reaper and Death liked to hunt anyways, it was probably working up to everyones favors if they were the ones getting their food, though…

 

It left Grillby feeling kind of… helpless? More like he suddenly didn’t know how to help. He’d usually offer to join in the hunting, but… he didn’t think Death wanted him close right now,  _ or _ that Sans wanted him close to Death.

  
  


Hearth didn’t exactly mind, just because they weren’t currently doing something they always did for the group, doesn’t make them worthless. He knows that they are a group, that they won’t simply be thrown away for that. They were kind of friends in a way, they first started this journey because Gaster asked them too. Not for making them hunt for them, so he wasn’t overly worried as his brother.

 

Instead he was more upset about not being able to hunt with them, damn it come on, they were the hunters. Now we aren’t allowed to hunt because of Sans. 

 

Hearth tried anyways, ignoring everyone else, he got his morning star and was ready to follow, waving the sorcerer and warlock as he walked. “I’m going to follow, who knows, maybe they would need my help.”

  
  


Sans was glancing after him surprised, sort of… offended? He got up, staff in his hand, ready to stop Hearth, when - 

 

“WHERE ARE YOU GOING, SANS???” Papyrus asked curiously. Sans froze up for a moment, surprised, having almost forgotten Papyrus was here. 

 

“hearth is… he’s not supposed to… i… don’ wan’ him going to hunt…” He stammered out a bit awkwardly, not sure how to tell his brother that Hearth had… well. Seen them. Sure, he probably heard a bit of it, when Sans and Death had been discussing it again yesterday, but… it was still vague just how much he heard and how much of it made sense.

 

“YOU KNOW… HEARTH ISN’T A BAD PERSON,” Papyrus said, his voice loud, but a bit softer than usually. “I DON’T THINK HE WOULD ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING…  _ BAD. _ ”

 

“yea, tha’s wha’ i thought too,” Sans grumbled quietly under his breath. “until  _ yesterday. _ ” But he stayed put anyway. Death wasn’t alone, Reaper was there, too. And Death had  _ told _ him he’d be his forever…

 

Grillby hadn’t been listening in _ exactly, _ but he  _ had _ noticed when Sans didn’t stop his brother from joining them. He quickly got his swords, before following after them as well.

  
  


The bigger demon didn’t mind actually when the two flames joined them, he roused his brother by making loud clicks as they walked away from the camp. But he continued to make noises even after Death woke up, they used clicks and growls and other animal like noises, almost like they were holding up a conversation. 

 

And they were, Death jumping down his back and got into hunt mode, he glanced at the elementals in surprise, before turning away with such attitude and continuing to hunt, keeping low to the group as they reached a lone deer.

  
  


Grillby wished he knew what they were talking about, the clicks and growls making him curious. Though he was already glad enough to be able to be on hunt with them. He watched with curiosity as they approached the deer, keeping low himself, to see how the demons would handle this.

  
  


Reaper went in the direction it was facing, keeping low and quiet as his brother did the same, but from behind. Once both demons got into position, Reaper jumped out. The deer jumped up in fright and bolted the opposite way, once close enough, Death jumped out as well. Latching himself onto the deer as his brother charged from the back, both going for the legs and the neck. It didn’t even stand a chance, it was dead the moment it was spotted by the demon brothers. 

 

Death let go so his brother can make sure it’s dead, then grab it by the neck with his jaws, lifting it up and dragging it back to the flames.

  
  


Grillby knew of course hunting and killing would be far from a problem for the demons, but seeing their sheer strength on display like that was still… breathtaking. 

 

“Thank you,” the elemental gasped out with a nod, before glancing slightly to his brother. They were both probably going to be fairly useless on this hunt, that much was clear. The most they would be able to help maybe was helping them carry the meat.

  
  


“Your pretty strong,” Hearth whistled, giving a pet to Reaper’s head, he sadly couldn’t get to Death, who was behind his brother glaring at his hand that tried to go to him. They continued on, to see if they could find anymore, hell they have two bottomless demons that needs food, and need to save the meat for some days.

 

They saw two boars in the distance, a mother boar and a baby boar. Reaper dropped the meat onto Hearth to hold, before stalking up to the unexpecting animals, Death not that far behind.

  
  


Grillby drew his swords soundlessly, eyes narrowing as he curiously watched the two demons sneak up to their prey. He knew his concern was unreasoned, but there was a big difference between a deer and a parenting, wild boar.

 

He just… wanted to be ready in case anything was going to happen.

  
  


A rustle caught Death’s attention from the back, swerving around with a surprised expression. The mother and baby boar screeched in terror at the same time a much bigger boar came out close to Grillby, smacking right into him. 

 

Death rounded back to the flames, passing a surprised Hearth trying to get the dead deer off himself and run right into the boar. His claws went to swipe at it and get away from the younger flame brother.

  
  


He thought he’d been prepared. This was the exact kind of situation Grillby had worried about, something unexpected. But his eyes had been glued to the demons so much, he barely even noticing the boar running right into  _ him. _

 

The impact knocked the breath out of him, vision blackening as he got knocked to the ground. And he  _ wanted  _ to defend himself.  _ Wanted _ to get up, get a hold of his blades again and fight. But he hissed in pain as he tried to move, panicked and not knowing what was going on. He only noticed the boar practically getting knocked off of him.

  
  


Hearth came by his side soon after, pulling him close, letting his head rest on his lap. Hearth looked down at Grillby’s torso where the boar rammed into, “Are you okay, brother? Can you hear me? Grillby? Grillby?” He asked, shaking his shoulder ever so lightly.

  
  


Grillby’s reply was a weak groan, but it was a reply none the less. He tried to open his eyes, the movement slow and sluggish, feeling like he was suddenly a lead elemental rather than a fire one. He barely managed to open them a slit, his vision foggy and blurry.

 

Fuck, he had to get it together. How badly could  _ one _ boar hurt him?   
  
“... _ Fine, _ ” was all the elemental managed to utter out, trying to push himself up into a sitting position, the world spinning as he did so, before everything went black. But he managed to keep himself upright.

  
  


Hearth pulled him to a sitting position once he saw him try to get up, laying him on a tree nearby. Grillby didn’t take Hearth’s attention for that long, because the cry of the mother boar made him look behind him. Reaper had killed her baby, and was now turning around to catch the running mother, but she was heading straight at Hearth and Grillby. 

 

Hearth did the only thing a brother should do, protect his brother. Grabbing his morning star, he got up and ran to the mother. 

 

Death left the sliced up boar father and ran to Grillby’s side once he was done, seeing him alone with no one to protect him. He sat next to him and nudged him lighty, crooning softy, like he was asking if he was okay.

  
  


For a moment Grillby couldn’t tell who or what it was that was coming towards him this time, and he almost panicked, scrambling away. But he found himself too weak to, and once the creature was actually up to him, making soft noises, he realized he didn’t need to worry anyways and relaxed.

 

He tried his best to put a hand on the back of Death’s skull to pet him, his movements clumsy and sluggish. “...Am fine,” he uttered out quietly, his voice soft and weakish. “Thank you.”

  
  


Death cooed softly, pulling Grillby close to him with his wings surrounding the flame from danger. Yes, he didn’t like how the flame monsters tried to spy on them before to watch his mate in that way, but hell Grillby was a part of the group, he had to protect him someway.

 

Death leaned close to give small licks to Grillby’s cheeks, in his way to tell him everything was going to be okay. He watched his brother and Hearth take care of the mother boar, seeing Hearth smash the morning star onto the head with such force.

 

Ooch, that got to hurt.

  
  


Even if his vision would’ve cleared up, Grillby wouldn’t have been able to see a lot, the wings now surrounding him blocking off most of the sight. He could hear the noises of battle around him, wanting to help, but knowing he’d only get himself into even more danger.

 

So he stayed put, letting Death and the others protect him, only… gasping a little when he felt the slightly rougher tongue on him. He… knew Sans would hate this. And he didn’t quite understand why Death was giving him this kind of attention. He thought he’d be mad at him, maybe even hate him, but…

 

Grillby wasn’t going to  _ stop _ him. Instead he tried to reciprocate the small caressing, trying to let his palm find good spots to give Death gentle pets.

  
  


Death was confused why Grillby would comfort  _ him. _ He wasn’t the one that had his head spinning, he was just trying to keep Grillby calm and relaxed, he didn’t him to get his bearings back quickly, and knowing an ally was there helped lots. 

 

Maybe he didn’t understand him. 

 

“everythin’s ok, relax.” There, that should do it, giving small kitten licks and cooing softly. 

  
  


“...I know,” Grillby replied, giving Death a soft smile. “...You’re here…”

 

Death also relaxed once his brother picked up the mother and father boars and pulled them to his back, while he ate the baby boar whole. Hearth was pushed by Reaper to grab the deer, pulling the deer over his shoulders and holding it with both hands, one holding the legs and the other holding the front legs.

 

Does that mean Death has to get Grillby?

 

Damn, fuck these fuckers.

 

His hands moved to grab Grillby a little better, pushing him to his back as well, he maneuvered his wings to flap around the flame, picking himself and Grillby up off the ground.

 

He heard his brother call to go back to camp, saying it’s enough for today. Death made a noise of confirmation, already starting to head back to everyone else waiting for them.

  
  


Grillby held onto Death tightly, eyes wide in surprise. He hadn’t expected being picked up like that… Death didn’t seem to have a lot of an issue carrying the extra weight, but Grillby still felt kind of like a burden.

 

Death was doing so much for him he didn’t have to. He could let Hearth carry him and instead take the deer. Could’ve left Grillby at the tree and instead helped the others fend of the boars.

 

But he was helping  _ him, _ protecting  _ him, _ and it made Grillby feel… happy. Warm.

 

“...Thank you,” he decided to mutter out quietly.

  
  


Death grumbled in reply, huffing lightly. Death glanced at Grillby before looking back to see if the others were following. They were. So Death had no problem to pull ahead and fly right into camp.

 

But due to the extra weight and Grillby being generally bigger than him. Death smacking his face right into the ground during the landing, now Death was face first into the ground with a bigger monster on top of him.

 

At least he made it to camp…

  
  


Grillby cursed quietly under his breath as he tried to drag himself off of the demon so he was sitting beside him. He pulled Death clumsily into his lap to check if he was okay.

 

Grillby wasn’t the only one concerned for the demon, as Sans had spun around as soon as he heard the thump of them landing roughly on the ground. He didn’t know what was going on, but he saw the elemental on top of Death, his mate to the ground, and for a moment, a split, scary moment Sans thought Grillby had  _ attacked _ him. And he was livid, running towards them, ready to pounce the elemental.

 

Bu he slowed down already once Grillby seemed to get off him, pulling him up apologetically. Sans still walked up to them, voice slightly strained with anger and worry when he asked, “wha’ ‘appened?”

  
  


Death squirmed out on the flame’s grasp and ramming into Sans, throwing him to the ground by the force. The demon began licking up Sans’ face, cooing softly to calm the monster down. “helpin’ grillby, he got ‘urt. he fat tho’.”

  
  


Sans couldn’t help himself but to smile when Death began licking him up, putting his arms around the demon contently. “yea? did ‘e get y’all in trouble?” He cooed at Death slightly playfully, completely ignoring the elemental in question now. “knew lettin’ ‘im join ya was a bad decision. you ok?” 

  
  


Death stuck his tongue out at his mate instead of replying, his mouth twitching upwards into a smile, he blew after a few seconds. “pfffbt!”

  
  


Sans snorted surprised at the noise, but decided to take it as a yes. But he smiled at least just as much. He gently bumped their foreheads together, looking his mate lovingly into the sockets, before he, too, stuck out his tongue at him.

  
  


Hearth and Reaper walked out into the clearing soon after, both still carrying their dinner.

  
  


Gaster and Papyrus came towards them, though Papyrus splitting off once he reached Grillby, asking concerned if he was okay and trying to heal him with his magic. Gaster decided to let his son do this job, as he himself wasn’t proficient in healing magic at all, instead welcoming Hearth and Reaper.

 

“Thank you for bringing back food for all of us,” he said, glad to see they had gotten quite a bit. “Did… you get in trouble during the hunt?”

  
  


“Uhhh,” Hearth uttered, glancing at his brother, “Maybe a little, but nothing we couldn’t handle right?” He shrugged as much as he could at the warlock, before going over to the center of their camp to place the deer near the campfire. He noticed Reaper following and also placing the two boars on the ground next to the deer.

 

On the other hand, the other demon in the camp wasn’t as easy going as his brother. Death looked offended at his mate, taking on the expression of one being challenged. His sockets narrowed at the monster, before sticking his tongue farther and blowing harder at him. “ppfffbbttt!!!”

  
  


Oh? So that’s how things are going to be. Well, Sans wasn’t one to back down on a friendly competition, when he wasn’t too lazy to at least. He stuck his tongue out back at him, imitating the, “pppffffbt,” noise as much as he could. His eyes were shut tight in concentration, until he opened them again, giving Death a cheeky smile that all but said,

 

‘beat  _ that. _ ’

  
  


Death frowned at him, glaring hard at his mate like he just insulted him. “ _ ppffffbbbtttt!!!” _ Death did it as long as he could, needing a second to get his bearings before giving Sans a toothy smile.

  
  


“mh, not bad,” Sans hummed, but he wasn’t beaten yet. He took a deep breath, sticking his tongue out at him, blowing out a loud and long, “ _ pfffffffbbbbbrrrr. _ ” He wasn’t even sure if his was longer or even as long as Death’s, but in those kind of situations confidence was the key.

 

He grinned at him cheekily, wiggling his bonebrows a little.

  
  


Death screwed his sockets shut and blew as hard as he could, hard enough that his cheeks turned a shade of blue as it puffed up bigger from the force. “ _ ppppppffffffffbbbbbbbbt” _ He kind of looked like a chipmunk trying to handle all the nuts it put into it’s mouth.

  
  


And he looked too precious like that, melting Sans’ heart both with how cute his mate looked, but also with how precious and funny he was. He couldn’t help himself. He leaned forward with a wide grin, collecting the other’s tongue up in a clumsy kiss before he had the chance to hide it again.

  
  


Death let out a noise of surprise, staying still as Sans played with his tongue. It took a moment to see Sans was kissing him. This kiss always surprised him. It was a mix of Sans’ kiss and his own lick kisses. It felt great, and Death didn’t waste anymore time in deepening the kiss, closing his sockets to keep all his focus on Sans. 

 

“hmm~” Death moaned, the feel of his tongue pressing and going against Sans’ was amazing, sending sparks of love and warmth to his chest and face.

  
  


Sans smiled happily at the reaction, not having expected it, but welcoming it warmly. He caressed Death’s tongue with his own, trying to feel and taste up every inch of it. He only broke the kiss after a good few minutes, still staying close to Death, panting a little as he looked at him with a slightly flushed face.

 

“‘kay…,” he breathed out in between pants. “you win…”

  
  


Death grinned evilly before slowly breaking out in a demonic laugh, almost mocking. He sat up with pride, like he defeated a whole army of soldiers, huffing out in pride with his chest out.

 

He got off Sans and strutted over to the boar, his tail going around Sans’ waist to pick him up and carry him. The demon walking with pride and purpose with Sans hanging from his tail.

  
  


Sans was just chuckling with him, letting himself hang comfortably from Death’s tail. 

 

By now Grillby was up again, not feeling  _ entirely _ up to his prime, but thanks to Papyrus’ healing was at least feeling better. Him and Hearth were already at the fire, preparing the deer for them to eat.

 

Grillby glanced at Death happily when he joined them at the fire. “You’re looking happy,” he said, softly. “...Thank you again. For helping me earlier.”

  
  


Death hummed in reply, dropping Sans down next to Grillby before dragging the father boar to Sans, it was cut and sliced every which way from the attack, but it was still intact, bloody, but intact. The demon sat in between Grillby and Sans, then tore into the boar while his body was pressed to Sans’ side, anymore and Death might run the risk of melting into Sans himself.

  
  


Sans wouldn’t even have minded it, though, pressing himself into Death just as much. If they melted together, maybe the elementals would at least finally get an idea of who Death was  _ with. _

 

“HOW WAS HUNT???” Papyrus asked curiously once him and Gaster joined everyone at the fire.

 

“Eventful,” Grillby decided to say. “Boar attacked us. But it’s all right now.”

 

“IS THAT WHY YOU WERE SO HURT???” The young skeleton asked, getting a nod from Grillby.

 

“Maybe you should stop joining the hunt until you’ve fully recovered,” Gaster mused, surprising Grillby a bit. 

 

“...Right…” It  _ did _ make sense, of course. Moving too hastily or quick still hurt, he still had trouble lifting the heavy deer. But… he would’ve liked joining Death on the hunt a few more times…

  
Though he supposed they had enough meat for the next few days anyways.

  
  


The others had to share a deer, while Reaper and Death had a boar each, so having meat for a few days wasn’t actually true. The demons usually don’t offer or share their foods, but Death did offer some to Sans, thanks to the demon wanting to please the monster so much. Cuddling up to his side and cooing softly while he ate.

 

That demon sure likes Sans a lot.  _ A lot. _

  
  


And Sans liked him back at least just as much. Enough that when Death offered him the raw boar meat, still warm from it having been  _ alive _ moments ago, blood still slightly dripping for it, he… he picked it up, biting into it, tearing off a small piece of it. He almost regretted doing so the second he did, having to suppress a gag at the taste of it. But Sans wanted to show Death he appreciated him, appreciated what he did for him, even if it was offering him foods he probably shouldn’t actually be eating…

  
  
But the demon cooing and curling up to him was worth it, his tail moving around to hug Sans’ waist. When has a demon ever happily cuddled up to a monster’s side? Never! There was never any records of any demons being at least  _ friendly _ with anyone, and this one was being beyond friendly, even being  _ more  _ than friendly with Sans.


	43. grillby, death has the very opposite of a cold

They were traveling most of their time, day and night both, having to sleep in the carriage, with one of them staying awake to steer the horses. They only ever stopped to hunt or eat, though Grillby was practically banned from the hunts.

 

It was distressing, his brother could still go, and he wanted to, too. His arm hurt whenever he moved it too much, which made it hard for Grillby to wield his swords, but he was fine  _ otherwise! _

 

He didn’t  _ like _ going behind the other’s backs, not when Papyrus was trying to help him get better so hard, when Gaster had so much authority over him, telling him they needed him more to recover than to join the hunt. But he was sick of staying at the camp all the time, was sick of being useless like this. But what can he do?

  
  


Death and Reaper were back from hunting, pushing Grillby back to the camp when he tried to sneak with them, they had also noticed the  _ farmers  _ were trying follow them, trying to attack every time, but the group always managing to get away. They were on the alert, not only for food, but for farmers. 

 

‘why can’ we eat da farmers? dey annoyin’, we need ta eat, why not?’ Death chirped and clicked at his brother.

 

‘THE OTHERS WON’T LIKE IT.’ The bigger demon replied.

 

‘dey don’ hav’ ta know.’ The smaller replied, gaining a chuckle from his brother. 

  
  


Grillby was sitting by the campfire, head in his palms letting out small sighs. Having now just been found out, but also sent back by the demons was a kick to his pride and… and he kind of had just wanted to spend time with them instead of being stuck at camp.

 

Sans seemed to have caught up on what happened and seemed to be just fine with it. And by just fine I mean he kept giving Grillby smug grins whenever the elemental would sigh. Why was he so smug. Sans wasn’t even going on the hunt with them. He was just laughing at Grillby’s suffering.

 

He is evil. Sans is an evil, evil warlock.

  
  


Hearth was rubbing his back softly, a racoon at Grillby’s feet, his older brother had caught it for him to make up the fact that Grillby couldn’t hunt with them.

 

Aster had sprained his ankle the last time they ran from the farmers, it was healed, but he still limped and winced when he walked. He ended up staying at the campfire, too tired to go to the carriage.

  
  


Gaster was checking over the map, both his sons at his side as they were trying to decide whether to stay at this camp for now or to search for somewhere more secluded. But the forest was thick and a fairly decent hiding place. The trees blocked the immediate view to them and gave some shelter, plus the town they wanted to go to was only a few hours from here.

 

“SO WHEN ARE WE GONNA GO???” Papyrus asked excitedly. He was practically vibrating on his seat, not having been to a village, let alone a big town in a long while.

 

“Tomorrow, after breakfast,” Gaster said, Papyrus deflating for a moment when he heard they wouldn’t go today anymore, but simply got back excited since they were going the next day. “Someone needs to stay here and look after the demons.”

 

“i wi-”   
  
“Grillby, Aster? Would you mind staying?” The warlock asked, ignoring Sans entirely. “You’re both still hurt and probably shouldn’t overexert yourself…”

  
  


“No, I  _ am  _ going.” Aster said firmly, his face daring anyone to stop him. “I won’t stay still when I could be walking around getting items I need.”

  
  


“I don’t mind,” Grillby said, Gaster nodding at both of them.    
  
“That’s quite alright. Grillby will stay with the demons,” he hummed, getting an annoyed huff from Sans.

 

“yea, right. ‘m not lettin’ ‘im alone with death. i’m stayin’, too,” he uttered out stubbornly, arms crossed as he lay back.

 

“You will not.” Gaster decided, his voice stern and strong, leaving no room to argue. “I don’t like how obsessive you’re getting of Death. He’s still a free person and so are you. You can spend time away from each other.”   
  
And, well. He was  _ right. _ Which didn’t mean Sans  _ liked _ it. Because he did  _ not. _ But Gaster already sounded pissed off, and Papyrus was looking at his brother with big eyes, quietly saying,

 

“IT’S GOING TO BE OKAY, IT’S JUST FOR A DAY.”

 

So Sans just kind of… gave in with a frustrated sigh.

 

-

 

They went to the road bright and early, just like Gaster said. Reaper was sitting at the front with Gaster, sniffing at the skeleton with wonder while his brother was splayed out on Sans’ lap, fully expected to be petted. He has been getting more needy lately, squirming around near Sans like he was uncomfortable. Whining at his mate to get his attention and stretch on his lap.

 

Hearth was gently changing the bandages on Aster’s ankle, the sorcerer staring at the flames work while his leg was lifted slightly up to make it easier for the flame. They were almost there, and dirt and mud ruined the bandages, they would have to get more now.

  
  


Papyrus was watching them as well, mixed feelings because he wished he could help by healing him better, but also unable to really feel  _ very _ bad when they were finally about to be around people again. 

 

He glanced towards his brother instead, Sans practically lying on top of Death with his upper body, giving him sad pets.

 

“‘m only gonna be gone some days,” he whispered to his mate, voice sounding like the idea of leaving Death behind hurt him. “i don’ wanna leave either… ‘m gonna be back, love, don’t worry.”

  
  


Death whined softly, licking Sans’ nose. “nuuuuuuuu! stay!” Death smushed his face into Sans’ chest, his hands grip so tight on the monster as he pulled him closer, the demons feet were folded in so his little paws were up in the air, his back on Sans’ lap and his back curved so his face reached up to Sans’ chest.

 

His body felt so hot lately, and every touch Sans gave him felt cooling and also made the heat worse at the same time. Please don’t leave him when his body was feeling hotter than it should. Death needs his mate.

  
  


The way Death was whining for him almost broke Sans’ heart. He looked up towards the little window showing the front of the carriage.

 

“dad,” he called over to him. “can’t i just… he wan’s me to stay, i can’t just  _ leave _ him.

 

“Oh, but you can,” Gaster called back without a delay. “And you will. Do not worry, Grillby will be there to take care of him during your absence.”

 

Sans’ sigh was sad and pathetic, looking down at his mate apologetically.

  
  


Death groaned before glaring at the older warlock. He moved quickly to grab a rock that was on the floor of the carriage that they use to place it in front of the wheels of the carriage, to stop it from rolling away. He threw it out the small window and directly hit Gaster right on his butt, which was the only thing you can see, since the window was at the height of the bench at the front.

 

The demon screeched in anger, before glomping onto Sans once again, pressing every part of his body he could to every part of Sans he had access to.

  
  


Sans was cackling quietly, seeing his dad obviously flinch and make a small noise of surprise as reaction, but apparently purposely ignoring them otherwise. The carriage came to a halt soon anyways, Papyrus immediately jumping up and out of it excitedly.

 

“ARE WE HERE YET??? ARE WE HERE???” He chirped joyfully.

 

“Not quite,” Gaster replied, but there was a soft laugh in his words, happy to see at least one of his sons excited. “But don’t worry. We’re close. Grillby?”   
  
“Yes?” The elemental replied. He was stepping out of the carriage, too, a few bags in his arms. “I’m assuming I’m staying here?”   
  
“Indeed. You have everything you need?” Gaster checked. “Sleeping bags? Food? We’re going to have to take the carriage with us to get it fixed.”   
  
Grillby gave him a nod as he put the bags down, going through them once he got off. “I have everything,” he confirmed.

 

“Good.” Gaster turned back to the demon next to him, giving him a careful pet to the head. “You will stay here with Grillby and your brother while we’re gone, okay? Take care of them.”

  
  


Reaper purred softly, licking the hand before jumping off the carriage. Death was more hesitant, getting up and smashing his face on Sans’ face to give him a clumsy and quick normal kiss. Getting off before Sans can react, going to press himself to his brother’s side the moment he was off, whining lowly.

  
  


Sans was left speechless for a small moment, not having expected Death to give him a kiss, not even  _ realizing _ what was happening at first. And by the time he did Death had already gotten off the carriage and Sans couldn’t reciprocate.

 

He was going to the hole in the wall to look after them, Gaster already getting the horses to move again. Damn it. He really didn’t want to leave Death… But he wasn’t alone. Reaper was with him and so was… Grillby.

 

Grillby was already setting up their camp, collecting some rocks for a campfire.

 

“We’re very close to the town,” Grillby mused towards both of the demons. “So we’ll have to be careful on where to go. We don’t want to get spotted.”

 

He sat down at the fire once he finished it, pulling one of the bags closer. “Are you hungry?”

  
  


Duh, they are always hungry. Death came to sit in front of Grillby, opening his mouth like it was a garbage shoot, Reaper coming next to him and doing the same. Both having their mouths open expectantly, gaze never leaving the flame.

  
  


Grillby let out a surprised laugh, honestly not having expected anything else. Gaster and the others had left him with all of their leftover meat, them assuming they were going to get something in town anyways, so Grillby had some to spare. He probably wasn’t going to be able to keep the demons from going on hunt anyway.

 

“Catch!” He said as he got two pieces of meat, tossing them both up a little over their heads.

  
  


Both demons scrambled to get it, their faces never directing away from the meat, only moving their legs to angle themselves better. Both demons caught it with no effort, Reaper going to a ball hidden by his wings to eat his meat in piece. Death just chomped into it with no delay, gulping it down without breaking it apart much.

  
  


Grillby chuckled softly as he watched them both eat. It would be nice being able to spend time with them without Sans constantly giving him a glare. It wasn’t like he was constantly trying to steal Death away from him, he just wanted to spend time with the demons as well!

 

He let his hand run gently over the top of Death’s skull, around the horns, the bone feeling slightly… warmer than usually? He might just be imagining it….

  
  


Death rested his head near Grillby so he could continue his petting, his legs and hips were the only thing that didn’t stay still, moving his weight from side to side, like he was rocking his hips to get some sort of energy or movement out, but it was really rubbing his underside on the ground. His brother getting out of his ball and going over to nudge his head with Grillby’s other hand, wanting to get pets too. 

  
  


Grillby smiled warmly once he saw Reaper emerge from his cocoon of wings, happily giving the taller demon pets as well. They were really cuddly. Have they always been this cuddly? Grillby could easily remember when Death was too aggressive for any of them to even get close, at least most of the time. Or when Reaper destroyed his whole town in rage…

 

They barely seemed like those demons anymore.

  
  


It was getting a bit hotter for Death now that the warm hand ran down his head, yes it was hot, yes he was already overheating as it is. But touch right now felt so good, he just wanted Sans back, his touch was so chilling and hot at the same time. Grillby’s touch was okay, it was hot more than chilling, it did send some cooling factures, but that was just his touch starved body liking contact. 

 

His bones started to sweat a very thin coat of blue magic, his mouth opening slightly to pant a little harder, his tongue peaking out.

 

Reaper didn’t notice his brother’s struggles, yes he realized what his brother’s body was preparing for, but that was in three days time before it would fully come. The bigger demon felt relaxed, his body going limp under the caring touch of the fire elemental.

  
  


Grillby, however, did notice. He didn’t know what was going on, but he noticed the way he seemed to start to sweat, the way he panted slightly. And he’s already been feeling hotter… Can demons get a fever?

 

“Are you okay?” He asked softly, pulling his hand back again. “...Are you getting sick?” The demons  _ had _ been sleeping curled up by themselves rather than in sleeping bags or using a blanket. Had he caught a cold that way?

 

“...I think you should use my sleeping bag tonight.”

  
  


Death shook his head, pushing his head to follow the hand. He needs contact, he needs Sans. But Sans isn’t here, and his body was now calling for him, screaming for Sans to hold him again. That calmed him down, being curled up in Sans’ lap, feeling safe. Now his body was getting worked up.

 

Goddammit.

 

Death whined softly at the flame, pressing his head to the fire hand, the touch was soothing as it was hot. It made him feel so much worse but it was so comforting as well.

  
  


Grillby let his hand linger for a moment, thumb stroking over the soft bone of the demon, before he pulled it away again.   
  
“...You’re so hot already,” he breathed out worried. “I think I’m only making it worse…”

  
  


Death whined pathetically, but he got up and and slowly walked to the pond they were dropped off near, throwing himself in. He looked like a crocodile floating on the surface. The top of his head and his back only things shown fully, with his tail dragging along on the surface and his wings lazily pushing him forward ever so slowly.

  
  


If Gillby was someone that would whine, he’d be whining right back at Death. The demon seemed to be doing really bad, but Grillby was anxious his flames would only heat him up even more… He’ll get all the cuddles he wants once he would get down his cold.

 

Meanwhile Grillby still had another big cuddly demon to satisfy. And this one seemed to be healthy as ever, bones dry rather than sticky with magic sweat and nice and cool rather than hot. He gave one last concerned glance at Death, before continuing to pet Reaper, giving him a worried glance instead.

 

“Do you think he’ll be fine…?”

  
  


Reaper huffed uncaringly and rolled over to expose his belly, giving Grillby his own little whine, his legs and feet were in the air just like how a dog’s would be in the same position. 

  
  


Grillby gave him a soft laugh as he was being simply ignored like that, not taking any offense in it. “Alright then,” he hummed out, already rubbing the demon’s more vulnerable ribs and spine gently. 

  
  


The demon’s purr was low and deep, going limp at the flame’s hold. His body curved slightly more to Grillby, his head resting on the fire leg, using the foot as some sort of pillow. Reaper let out a happy growl when Grillby scratched his spine, running down the disks, it felt like a back massage, but more for the front.


	44. this is not taking care of him grillby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Content Warning: Dubcon?/Sexual content**

Grillby was still concerned by the time night started to come closer. It was cooling down rapidly, especially in the forest where they were mostly covered by shadows and not a lot stored the heat. Death still felt hotter than he usually should, Grillby was holding a gentle palm to his head as he tested so. And he didn’t want to overheat the poor demon, but… He wasn’t a doctor, but if the demon got sick from sleeping out in the open, he probably shouldn’t be repeating that.

 

“You’re sleeping in my sleeping bag tonight,” Grillby decided, already moving the small demon into the warm leather bag. “I don’t mind sleeping out a few nights.”

  
  


Death struggled in the flame’s grasp, hissing at him as he pushed the sleeping bag away from him with his feet when Grillby tried to push him in. Hell no, it looked suffocating in there!

 

Death was wiggling in Grillby’s arms like a worm, hard to keep your hold on him, and the added sweat on his bones made him even harder. Even more worm like, Death was a worm now.

 

“nuu!” The demon whined, managing to free his upper half from Grillby’s grasp, but the flame still holding him with an arm around his waist and hand on his legs, even with his legs kicking at the sleeping bag.

  
  


“Come on, you’ll just be cold out here,” Grillby huffed as he already struggled to only keep his  _ grip _ on Death. He really didn’t know how he was supposed to get him into the sleeping bag like that, let alone get him to stay in there.

 

“It’s completely safe, just keeps you warm,” Grillby tried to assure him. He let Death go, crawling into the sleeping bag as an example. “See? Safe.”

  
  


Death didn’t listen, just scramble away once Grillby let him go, running up a tree and staying there. Maybe he shouldn’t of let him go….?

  
  


Grillby groaned, watching Death run away from him. Welp. He should’ve expected that. He got out of the sleeping back again, a hand quickly getting a smallish piece of meat. 

 

“Alright, Death,” he said, his tone negotiating. “I’ll give you this snack if you come down here again. And if you sleep inside the sleeping bag for the night, you’ll get another one.”

  
  


Reaper dashed from the corner of Grillby’s gaze, snatching the meat as Death was getting down the tree, only to go back up when he saw the meat was gone, whining annoying. Reaper on the other hand was happily eating the meat a few feet from Grillby, to avoid the flames anger.

  
  


Grillby couldn’t even entirely process what had just happened, only letting out a sigh when he noticed Death climbing back up. “No, no, I have more,” He assured the demon, going to the bag to get another piece of meat, staying more wary of Reaper this time. They were really gonna run out of meat quick if they kept this up…

  
  


Death eyed the meat, Reaper doing the same, both demons inching closer to it, or in Death’s case, climbing down. Reaper charged, Death doing the same after seeing his brother going for it. Making both Demons run into the flame and run  _ over  _ him once the meat went flying into the air.

 

Death being the victor this time, gulping it down before his brother can get his hands on it.

  
  


Grillby didn’t let himself recover for very long, already pushing himself off the ground and dashing after the small demon. He literally jumped on him, arms tight around the demon as he caught him, not letting go this time.

 

“Looks like you’ll just be staying here then,” he said, giving Death a playful triumphant smile.

  
  
  


Death growled through the meat in his mouth, but it didn’t last that long. The heat from Grillby’s body pressing to his sensitive back side making it burn in sweet pleasure. The demon letting out a quiet moan, but thankfully for him it was covered by the meat still in his mouth. That still didn’t cover the shiver that ran down the demon’s spine and the small rutting he subconsciously did to get more of that heat on his privates. 

 

Death’s sockets closed and whined softly, he swallowed the meat, making his whine even more audible. “eeeee, wan’ sannnssss!” Now instead of his body rutting, he switched to wiggling so all his body could feel friction at any part he could from the heat.

  
  


Grillby’s eyes widened surprised at the reaction, the noises, unsure if he should let go of Death after all or not. He had the odd feeling that he was gravely miscalculating the situation, that he should  _ not _ hold onto him anymore, but at the same time… He didn’t really  _ want _ to let go of Death… He felt soft in his hold, warm and alive and so  _ small. _

 

“...It’s okay,” he said softly, one hand gently running over Death’s side. “It’s okay. He’ll be back soon. It’ll only be some days…”

  
  


Thankfully Death got tired and went limp in the flames hold, energy getting zapped from his body. But he still didn’t stop whining Sans’ name quietly, his tone longing and desperate.

  
  


Grillby felt bad for the small demon. But he also understood why Gaster had wanted Sans to have some time away from him, and… He knew he couldn’t be as close to Death as he was right now were his mate here.

 

He scooted into the sleeping bag with the demon still in his arms. If Death wasn’t going to stay inside by himself, Grillby would just have to keep him in. He was getting tired anyway, and so was Death it seemed.

 

“Sorry I can’t sleep out there with you,” the elemental said quietly, voice apologetic as he glanced at Reaper. “Gotta keep Death here. You gonna be fine?”

  
  


Reaper tilted his head in confusion, watching Grillby handle his brother and putting him in a bag. But he wasn’t hurting him in any way, and was apologizing, so he figured it was okay, even if he doesn’t know  _ why  _ Death has to stay in the bag. The demon nodded at Grillby, curling up into a ball once again and relaxing.

 

Death struggled lightly in Grillby’s hold, but just gave up once he was inside the bag, he was stuck in a tight bag with a flame monster hugging him close. The demon just decided to make himself comfortable, his body was shutting down and he would rather sleep right than wake up sore.

 

He turned so his front was pressed to Grillby’s chest, he never stopped whining though. His hands going to Grillby’s sides and his legs curling up, his sweaty wings were pressed to his sweaty back, making it all feel so wet and sticky. His tail was the only other thing that didn’t give in, it was flicking in different directions at the bottom of the bag, like it was restless. It mostly tired to go behind Death, trying to lift itself up, but failed every time due to the bag being so tight with two monsters inside.

 

Death’s sockets were half lidded, his mouth open and panting with his tongue hanging, there was a thicker coat of sweat on his bones. The demon looked up at Grillby, his whines soft and weak.

  
  


Grillby hummed, arms loosening slightly around Death, still around him, but loose and gentle enough to let the demon get comfortable. He had one hand between Death’s shoulder blades, fingers slowly and gently stroking over the spot.

  
“It’s okay,” he said again, voice quiet and soft. “Sans’ll be back soon. For now… just… sleep.”

 

He was falling asleep himself. The warmth of the demon was fueling his own, making him feel all the more comfortable. His face was close to Death’s, not touching him yet, but his breath brushing him as it started to slow and relax slowly.

 

He hadn’t felt this comfortable in a long while. Not since he lost his family, not since he lost his home. He felt like he found something he’d been missing. Like he finally was safe, was complete… Was ready to sleep comfortably and without a second thought.

 

-

 

Death had slept restlessly, always waking up for a few minutes and falling back to sleep, he was just so sleepy. But now he was wide awake, and oh shit was he hot, he was burning. His body was raging, needing contact so bad, needing something cool so bad, the heat next to him was giving him contact, but a whole lot of heat.

 

And most importantly, his privates were raging more than everything, it felt exactly like when he went into hea-....... oh.

 

He was in heat.

 

No shit he wanted Sans so bad, still does, no wonder heat was engulfing him. Gosh and Grillby was making it so much worse!

 

The demon squirmed in the tight sleeping bag, his body grinding up against the flame’s, his mind was already foggy when he woke up, but now it was almost like he couldn’t understand the most basic stuff, like his name, what was his name again?

 

It doesn’t matter, he wants his mates dick, where was he? He had to be close, he was in heat! Oh gosh it’s so hot! There is a body next to him that is making him hot, who else will make him ragingly hot but his mate’s?

 

But the heat didn’t feel right? Why? Damn, he was too horny to care, his mate was here and even if it felt a little wrong and unfamiliar it was still his mates heat. Why else would he feel heat from the body next to him? Why else would there be a body next to him in his heat?

 

Death whined into the body, rutting hard into them, wanting them so badly to give him attention, to run their hands over his body. 

 

“sa…..n..ss” Death muttered, but he shut up once his dripping pussy made contact with the leg of the monster next to him, making him shiver and grind his needing mound against the leg.

  
  


Grillby woke up… slowly. There was a short period of time where he could feel something moving in his sleeping bag. Where he slowly remembered it wasn’t a wild animal, but a demon he was sharing it with. But he didn’t actually fully wake up until he felt something wet on his leg, and when he did, he  _ gasped. _

 

Death was closer to him than he remembered, or  _ maybe _ it just felt that way, with the way Death’s body suddenly felt a lot hotter, suddenly was heating up Grillby a lot more, suddenly was rutting against the elemental in a way Sans would  _ hate _ if he’d see this right now…

 

“Death…” He rasped out, his voice quiet and shocked. “What’s… Death, what’re you doing…?” But despite everything, he didn’t take his hands off him. Felt like they were glued to him, running gently over the soft, sweaty bones.

  
  


Reaper was at attention when he heard Grillby, taking one look at his brother before bolting away, heading straight for the town that the others left to.

 

Death groaned at Grillby, his formed hazy eye lights looking at him with need and desire, but sadly those eye lights failed to see that this monster wasn’t his mate. Instead of realizing he wasn’t, Death grinded harder on the hot leg, his own legs spreading as much as he could, but it was so uncomfortable that Death abandoned that idea.

 

The demon turned around and stuck his butt out at the elemental, his tail managing to get out of the bag and lift itself up, now wrapping around Grillby’s chest. Death’s butt was now pressing into Grillby’s crotch, rubbing against it desperately to get more of that heat. The demon’s hands went to the ground to ball up the dirt, pushing his body as much as possible to the heat he so desperately needed.

  
  


Grillby’s own breathing was slightly labored, tent straining against his pants. Fuck. Fuck. There was  _ no  _ way Death  _ wasn’t _ trying to attract him in some way. He was rutting into his crotch, making the elemental ready to almost cream his pants.

 

Was… Was Death in heat…? Grillby knew demons could go into heat. They were known to be more aggressive during heat, were known to be more often found in pairs or groups. But had Death  _ really _ gone into heat when Sans left…?   
  
Grillby had to keep himself from grinding into Death’s sweet behind,  _ knowing _ Death belonged to Sans, but… was he… would he be okay?   
  
One thing Grillby  _ didn’t _ know about heats was… would Death be okay if the heat went just ignored? He didn’t want the demon to suffer, and he  _ had _ promised to take care of him…

  
  


Death squirmed his way out of the bag, finding it restricting and uncomfortable. He went straight to going into a offering position, his head and chest pressed to the ground as his back arched to put his butt in the air, tail tall and proud, curling upwards until the tip was over Death’s head. Death whimpered as his wings flapped uselessly, wiggling his butt to get his mate to give attention to his needy organ, the mound already making a big wet bump in his pants.

  
  


Grillby was watching Death in wonder, barely able to process what was happening. But he as presenting his butt to him, the spot, wetted by his neediness, and he had to suck in a sharp breath.

 

“Do… Do you want me to help…?” He breathed out, his voice quiet and hesitant. He got out of the sleeping bag, scooting closer to the small demon. His hands ran over the small body, gentle, brushing, barely touching the heated bones as he was waiting for an answer, trying to be patient, but the hardness in his pants was screaming for Death to hurry.

  
  


Death whined, annoyed and miserable. He moved his butt towards Grillby as much as he could, whimpering for the flame to touch him, fill him up, claim him as his mate once again. 

 

Oh Sans~

  
  


Grillby groaned quietly, deciding to take Death’s reaction as a, ‘yes.’ He didn’t want to let Death suffer any longer, already hooking his fingers into the demon’s pants and pulling them down, revealing the bright, soft mound. Fuck, it looked so inviting already, looked to wet and good.

 

He lifted Death’s legs carefully, one after another to get the pants off of him, before placing him down again. Slowly his hand moved between the demon’s legs, two fingers running over the glistening mound, between the folds. He  _ wanted _ to test how wet he was, how ready he was, if he needed Grillby to prepare him some, but that didn’t stop the elemental from teasing a little, his thumb flicking over the sensitive nub, his fingers circling the sweet entrance.

  
  


The demon whimpered loud and oh so desperately, his body shaking at the touches, it felt so good but at the same time just  _ wasn’t enough _ . He pressed his butt close to the fingers, wanting as much contact as possible, following the fingers every time they pulled away or moved.

 

“nuuuuuu! pleeeeease!” Death whined, turning his head to give Grillby a pathetic look.

  
  


Grillby gave the demon an understanding hum, pulling his hand away again. “I think you’re ready…”

 

He didn’t take long to pull his own pants down enough to  _ finally _ free his aching dick. This was for Death, Grillby reminded himself. He was helping out. Was making sure Death didn’t have to suffer too much. It’s just how his body worked, it didn’t  _ mean _ anything…

 

He was holding onto Death with one hand, gently petting him, as his other hand lead the tip of his cock to the demon’s yearning hole, pushing in gently and slowly, but in one, smooth go.

 

-

 

Sans had been antsy since he left the demons and Gaster did  _ not _ like it. He said he should relax, should trust them. Trust Death. But there was just…  _ something.  _ Something that made Sans feel odd. That made Sans feel nervous.

 

He shouldn’t have left Death behind. Death wanted him to stay.  _ Sans _ wanted to stay! There was no reason why he should have left and the  _ longer _ he was separated from his mate the worse did he feel.

 

There was something going on, something going  _ wrong, _ he knew it. He could feel it in his bones.

 

He went up to his brother slowly, making sure Gaster was distracted when he whispered to him, “cover for me. i gotta go.”   
  
“Where to?” Papyrus asked, but he kept his voice low to match Sans’.

 

“i  _ gotta _ … gotta check after ‘im… somethin’s not right.” Papyrus gave him a look, a skeptical one, but eventually gave him a nod.

  
“Okay. Make sure he’s safe,” he said, giving Sans a quick hug, before the smaller skeleton finally sneaked away, separating himself from the others to speed walk back to their camp. He wished he had the carriage. They had taken a bit into town  _ with _ the carriage, he wasn’t gonna be faster by  _ foot. _


	45. and yer MY pussy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Content warnings: Explicit sexual content**
> 
>  
> 
> also 420 blaze it

Death moaned as the cock slipped in, it felt so big, so good. But at the same time, it felt so wrong, like this cock wasn’t supposed to be in there, but the heat was amazing, and it was bigger than he expected for some reason. But god damn, this felt so good. 

 

The demon shivered and squeezed it, wanting to get a good feel of the organ that was going to rock his world in a few seconds. He whined at the length and size, it was  _ definitely  _ not like he remembered his mates cock to be, but it was his mates cock. So he didn’t fucking care one bit if it was bigger, maybe it was swollen from a bug bite, psh, like he would care, his mate was going to fuck him with a swollen cock if he liked it or not.

  
  


And he didn’t have to worry about that, because god damn did Grillby like it. The walls felt so good around him, warm and wet, soft and tight. He felt like Death was  _ made  _ for his cock, fitting around him like a glove.

 

“Good?” He breathed out quietly. He put a hand on Death’s hip, pulling out again halfway, before slamming back in.  _ Fuck _ Death felt really good around him.

  
  


Death screamed, the cock hitting the back of his pussy so good, his body shaking from the pleasure going through all his body. His wings flapped carelessly as he thrusted into Grillby’s movements, panting, almost breathless. 

 

“good! good! morre!” Death whined, his walls clamping around the cock to feel it, feel the heat, the resistance of making his walls small once again, making it stretch out so good.

  
  


Grillby hummed at the delicious noises Death was making, feeling them spur him on. The walls tightened around him so good, letting him feel them, letting Death feel  _ him _ . He slowed his movements a little, drawing out the feeling of Death’s tight walls around him, drawing out the feeling of Grillby’s cock sliding through the demon. But he only strengthened his slam back in, rocking into Death with small, barely audible grunts.

 

His hands went from Death’s hips to around his chest, pulling the demon closer until he was practically sitting on Grillby’s cock, the elemental slamming up into him, rocking the small body up and down with every movement. He couldn’t exactly get deeper into him that way, but Death’s spine was against Grillby’s chest, warm and close, giving Grillby a chance to hold him.

  
  


Death gasped the feeling of being filled so roughly yet so good was making his body go numb, oh shit Sans how lucky Death feels to be your mate right now! Death met Grillby’s thrust half way, his hands digging into the dirt, pushing his body with his arms to slam hismelf onto the sweet dick.

 

“maaa, ahhhhhh!” Death cried, his tongue hanging out from his mouth, he moved back to be as close to his mate as possible, turning his head to try and kiss him. He knew Sans liked it when he kissed him, and he just  _ had  _ to award the monster for somehow getting back to him in his time of need.

  
  


Grillby was definitely surprised when Death seemed to try to kiss him, but definitely wasn’t going to stop him. He leaned into the kiss, tongue readily exploring the offered mouth, feeling and tasting up every corner of it.

 

And it was  _ so good. _ He tasted so good, felt so soft, so right, in his arms, around his cock, kissing him. He was moaning into the kiss, speeding up his movements a little bit, feeling himself slowly get closer.

 

But that didn’t stop him from letting his hands wander over Death’s bones, gently stroking over them, feeling every bump and ridge over the smooth ribs, then down until he was at the spine.

  
  


Death whined, it was desperate and panicked, his walls squeezing the cock as hard as it could, before it spazzed out once the demon released. Death whimpered once he came, his walls continuing to be abused.

  
  


Grillby wasn’t too far behind, though. He felt his own orgasm coming closer by the second and was lifting Death up slightly so he could slam into him faster, rougher. 

 

“So good,” he panted out, his voice rough and hot, feeling like he entered heaven and put his dick in it, especially now that Death’s sweet, sweet walls were quivering around him, sensitive and abused, but still taking him like a champion. 

  
He was holding Death close, mouth kissing all over the back of his neck, down his spine, between his shoulder blades, leaving small love and scorch marks on the pristine bone. His grip tightened on the demon, slamming him down onto his cock, hilting it completely for a last time.

 

He came in a burst, filling Death up with his cum, but also with his fire, keeping it low enough to not  _ hurt _ Death, but with the way it grew in shape, uncontrolled and wild it still found it’s way between the demon’s bones.

 

-

 

The moment Reaper spotted Sans, he scooped him up and flew as fast as he could to his brother. He looked at the monster in his arms with a serious expression. 

 

“WHY DID YOU LEAVE, BROTHER WAS GOING INTO HEAT?” 

  
  


“i- ...what?” Sans glanced up at Reaper confused and in shock. Death was  _ what _ now? Why was  _ Reaper _ even here? Sans had barely had the time to reach the edge of the town, already being in the air with a demon.

 

Death was in heat… fucking of course he would be right when Sans would  _ leave. _

  
  


Reaper growled in annoyance before using every bit of hit power to go to his brother, to deliver his mate to his needy and vulnerable brother.

 

By the time he actually  _ made  _ it there, they got there just in time to see his  _ mated  _ brother in Grillby’s arms, his back pressed to the others chest and the flame holding his brother’s legs, making his underbelly exposed and open for everyone to see! For everyone to see his dick deep inside his  _ taken  _ brother!

 

Death looked like he completely checked out long ago, his eye lights blown over and his tongue hanging lifelessly, his whole body limp in the elementals grasp as the final thrust filled his insides.

 

“eee!” Reaper twitched when he heard his brother screech when the hot liquid shot into his insides, the heat making him shiver.

  
  


Sans’ eyes were wide in shock at what he saw. Seeing Death taken by someone else, seeing  _ his mate _ fucked by another monster. By  _ Grillby. _ The bastard! Sans  _ knew _ he shouldn’t’ve let him alone with Death, shouldn’t’ve let him get even  _ close _ to him.

 

He was crackling with magic, furious as he came up to Death in no time, collecting the demon up into his arms quicker than Grillby could even quite process. But it wasn’t like that really still  _ helped _ anyway. Death was already covered by Grillby. By his flames leaving marks all over the white bones, by his smell covering up Sans’ own smell on him, by his  _ goddamn seed _ dripping out of his mate.

 

“Fuck- ...Sans-” Grillby rasped out the moment he realized  _ what _ was actually going on, but Sans didn’t give him a moment, only taking the time to place Death down against a tree, gently and careful, before he spun around to Grillby. His staff was pointed at him, magic crackling aggressively, threateningly.

  
“I was trying to help!”   
  
“you  _ fucked _ my mate!” Sans hissed. “you fucked  _ my _ mate!  _ mine, _ you fucking  _ bastard! _ ”

 

Grillby was scrambling to get his bearings back, hastily putting back on his pants while anxiously keeping an eye on the crackling staff pointed at him. When had Sans even come back?  _ Why _ had Sans come back!? There was no possible way he could’ve  _ known. _

 

“I didn’t mean to!”   
  
“‘course y’ meant to!” Sans growled back at him. “y’ve  _ been  _ meanin’ to this entire fuckin’  _ time! _ ‘s all y’ve been tryna  _ do! _ ”

 

Grillby’s hands were on the handles of his blades, tense and anxious. He was staring back at not just an  _ angry _ , furious warlock, but an unstable one. He’s  _ seen _ him flip, he’s  _ seen _ Sans lose all rationality out of anger.

 

“I’m  _ sorry, _ ” he tried, not sure if he quite sounded sincere, or just scared, but he had to say  _ something _ . “I’m sorry, I messed up. You  _ don’t _ want to hurt me over this, though, Sans. We’re friends! We work together!”

 

“friends don’ steal your fuckin’  _ mates! _ ” Sans bellowed, swinging his staff in a way that startled Grillby to react. He drew his swords, knocking the staff out of Sans grip. Startled Sans tried to get it back, turning his back to Grillby, only to get knocked to the ground.

 

The elemental slammed both of his blades down, left and right to the skeleton, barely brushing him. They were crossed above his chest, locking him to the ground with Grillby towering above him.

 

“I don’t want to fight you,” he said, his voice pleading.

 

“you can’t fight me,” Sans growled back, but Grillby shook his head.

 

“I can. I’ve been  _ taught _ to, Sans.” Which, well, was true enough. He never really learned to fight warlocks, but as a priest he knew his way with anything unholy, knew how to keep the dark at bay and stop them. 

 

Sans didn’t even know how to  _ fight. _

  
  


Reaper didn’t know what to do, help a unstable angry warlock that was his brother’s mate, or a rational friend that fucked his  _ mated  _ brother. On one hand Grillby deserved all that rage, on the other Reaper didn’t think the others would like Sans killing one of their companions. He decided to stay out of it, a angry mate shouldn’t be messed with, so he backed up and disappeared in the shadows.

 

After a bit more fighting, Death’s little break between rounds ended, his heat starting back up in a rage. He moved sluggishly on his fours, his chest and head resting on the ground again as his back arched to put his butt back in the air, cum dripping out of his opening and to the floor.

 

He didn’t really understand why his mate split to two people, but at the moment he didn’t care, he just wanted at least  _ one  _ of them to take care of his raging heat. He whined and whimpered to get their attention, his tone so needy and desperate, almost like he was about to cry if he didn’t get the attention he needed.

 

“eeeeeee!  _ eeeeeeeeeeee! _ ” He shaked and wiggled his butt as much as he could without wasting to much energy, cum running down faster down his femurs and pussy. “pleeeeease!”

  
  


Grillby froze up when he heard the demon beg, watching him with fascination. He saw Sans as well, letting out a pathetic whine as he wanted to respond to his mates needs but was still stuck between the swords. As soon as Grillby actually realized what he was holding Sans back from, he drew back the swords and backed off a step, letting Sans scramble up and dash towards his mate.

 

Sans’ hands were on him in no time, quietly cooing, “‘m here now,” and, “y’re mine,” over and over and over again. He didn’t fuck him immediately,  _ couldn’t _ when there was still  _ Grillby’s _ cum dripping out of Death’s sweet entrance. He licked it up instead, tongue digging deep to collect up as much of it as he could, before unceremoniously spitting it out on the ground.

  
  


Death whined long and needy, pushing his butt to Sans’ face, almost covering his whole face, even pushing more when Sans pulled away to spit the cum out. “ssnnnaaasss!” He whimpered at every touch Sans gave him, spreading his legs a little to give Sans more access.

  
  


Grillby knew what was going to happen. And he knew he wasn’t supposed to be here for this, especially not after they had already caught him watching the last time. So he backed off wordlessly, following to wherever Reaper had disappeared into the woods, leaving the two mates be for now.

 

Sans, though wasn’t even paying attention to Grillby anymore. He only had eyes for his mate, licking up the foreign cum until there was nothing left of it anymore.  _ Nothing. _

 

“y're  _ mine, _ ” Sans growled out, his voice deep and possessive, and he couldn’t quite get his hands off his mate. Couldn’t stop raking and running them over the other’s bones, letting Death feel him, his touch, all over. Letting him feel who he belonged to, who was his, who made him feel  _ good. _

 

He shimmied out of his pants clumsily, still not letting go of Death so he had to do it without hands. But he managed to get as far as to free his cock, which was all he wanted anyways, and was already rubbing it against the inviting folds, letting out soft moans.

  
  


Death shivered as the cock rubbed against his folds, the demon grabbing onto the tree to hold himself better while he pressed back to Sans’ gorgeous cock. “please…” Death whispered, glancing up at Sans, “mate me…”

  
  


Sans groaned in reply, drinking up the demon’s voice like he was dying of thirst. “gonna-  _ hah- ... _ gonna remind ya  _ who’s _ y’ are,” he groaned out, grinding his dick against Death a bit more, before finally lining it up with the other’s entrance. “gonna remind  _ everyone _ y’re mine.” And he pushed in, whining softly at the feeling of it. At how hot Death’s sweet sweet pussy was.

 

Making the demon let out a orgasmic cry.

 

-

 

About five more rounds before Death’s heat started to subside. The demon had clawed up the tree, marks covering the trunk as the culprit almost hugged it, he was in a squat position, his pussy fully amused and satisfied. 

 

His neck was dripping one or two drops of blood from Sans’ reopening the mark on his neck. Death looked back at Sans with tired hazy eyes, but they looked happy and subdued. “ssnnnaannnsss~” he cooed, the purr in his voice slowly getting louder as he kept staring at his mate. His vision starting to clear up, making him think and see rationally. 

  
  


Sans hummed, tired but satisfied as he was gently kissing up and down the demon’s neck. He had his arms around him, was pulling him down and close to lie down in his arms. Sans was absolutely tuckered out after this, but felt a lot better than before.

 

Death was filled up with Sans’ seed, cooing his name adorably and satisfied. He had Sans’ smell all over, and every part where Sans felt like he hadn’t marked it with his own presence yet, he ran his hands over, gentle and massaging, leaving his trace.

  
  


Death licked Sans’ face gently with his small tongue, never stopping his purring. The demon cuddled up to the monster, his tail flicking over Sans, hovering over him like it was observing him. “ssnnnaaannnsss~” He kept on repeating the name like it was something gifted and beautiful. His sockets started to drift close, even managing to continue to purr in his sleep.


	46. shopping with your demons

By the time Sans woke up, Grillby was back again. He hadn’t even realized he had fallen asleep, Death still in his arms, sleeping soundly, having stopped purring after probably an hour or two. But he still looked content and satisfied. A sight Sans  _ loved _ so dearly and a sight Grillby was longing for so badly.

 

Sans ignored the elemental when he gently got up off the ground. He cleaned Death up without waking the demon, putting his pants back on, as well as his own. Sans didn’t  _ want _ to leave Death, even if he was still close, he didn’t want to leave him lying alone, but Grillby was watching Sans intently, like he still had something to say.

 

He was sitting by the fire quietly, Reaper close by. “Your father is probably worried about you.”   
  
“‘m not leavin’ death ‘lone  _ again, _ ” Sans argued, his voice aggressive.

 

“Well… what are you intending to do?” Grillby asked, genuinely asked. The others would still be gone for some days, and if Sans would be missing this whole time, they’d probably search through the entire town for him without success.

 

“takin’ ‘im with me,” Sans decided finally, Grillby’s eyes widening in surprise.

  
“What…?”   
  
“‘m takin’ ‘im with me.” He left no room for arguing, already pulling off his own hood, before gently moving Death to put it on him, covering up the horns. “he’s gonna behave. ‘s gonna be ok.”   
  
“No, no wait,” Grillby  _ still  _ argued, though. Sans was already picking up the sleeping demon, carrying him away, and the elemental quickly followed suit, getting up and picking up his bags as he followed. “Sans, that’s  _ insane! _ You can’t just bring a demon to a town!”   
  
“well, i can,” Sans argued. “an’ i am.”   
  
And so he did.

  
  


Death has woken up halfway to the walk back into town, noticing Grillby and Reaper were following Sans worriedly, and him being carried by said monster bridal style. When Death stopped looking over Sans’ shoulder to coo confusingly at his mate, his hand going to paw at Sans’ chest to gain his attention. “snas?”

  
  


Sans let out an acknowledging little hum when he heard Death wake up, his chest warming at the way he said his name, the way he pawed his chest, just…  _ him. _

 

“we’re goin’ to town,” he said quietly. “to the others. can… can y’ behave? not attack anyone…? i’ll promise to keep you safe.”

  
  


Death shrinked in Sans’ hold when he realized that he was going to be around a lot of monsters. Every time he was surrounded by monsters or humans, they were a mob, or forming into one. Death whined softly to his mate, looking up at him helplessly. 

 

“snas dey gonna ‘urt me, gotta attack.” If he goes even near the town, he will be attacked on the spot, it was always like that and it will always be like that. And seeing his brother following made a heavy feeling appear in his chest, making him feel worse. “my bru’der…”

  
  


“He’s right, you know,” Grillby sighed. He stayed close to Reaper, ready to act if anything were to happen, but he wasn’t really holding him back or anything.

 

“no, ‘e’s not. no one’s gonna hurt y’. ‘m gonna protect ya.” Plus, if he was confident enough about it, he could convince people he had captured them. He  _ was _ still a ‘sorcerer’ after all, and he’s managed to convince a village  _ before. _

  
  


Death whined softly at him, hiding his face in Sans’ neck, curling up in his hold. His brother growled behind them, glaring at Sans, almost like he was giving him a silent promise that he would regret every existing if something happened to Death. Which was exactly what he was doing.

  
  


Grillby wasn’t a lot better off either, letting out a distressed groan. He didn’t  _ actually _ have to come along, but if anything happened to Sans or Death because he decided to let them deal with it on their own, he’d never forgive himself.

 

He was getting more and more anxious the closer they came to the town, though, slowly drawing closer to Reaper as well. He placed a hand gently on the demon’s back, giving an illusion of control.

 

He knew very well that if Reaper wanted to bolt, Grillby had no actual leverage over him. His hand was between the other’s wings with nothing to really hold on but the shirt. But he didn’t want to breach into town, letting people think Reaper was simply a stray demon.

 

“Just relax,” he eventually told the big guy. “I… think Sans has a point. If we look confident enough, people won’t attack us.”

  
  


Reaper whined at Grillby, giving him a worried look.  _ This is not gonna end well _ .

 

Death cooed at Sans, his tone worried and a bit panicky. “snans why…?” He let him go before when he first left, now he doesn’t wanna let go? What happened? Why is Sans suddenly taking him somewhere dangerous?

  
  


Sans stopped in his tracks this time, his tone suddenly carrying his annoyance. “y’ rather wanna stay with  _ him _ again?!” But despite the annoyance in his voice, his eyes looked scared, hurt as he was avoiding to look back at Death.

  
  


“wha…?” Death asked, confusion laced in his voice. The disapproval in Sans’ tone hit home, making him shiver and a tiny whimper escaping him. “wha happened….. sans wha’ wrong..?”

  
  


Sans let out a small, low growl, but didn’t reply else. He just tightened his hold on Death, before continuing to walk, a  _ very _ uncomfortable Grillby following suit.

 

“y’re mine,” Sans muttered out anyways. “‘m not givin’ you ‘way. ever.”

  
  


Death hummed in confusion, but decided not to ask anymore, clearly Sans didn’t want to talk about it. The best thing he can do is reassure him that what he says is true. “ye, ferever yers…” He laid his head back down on his shoulder, looking ahead blanketly. “i lov’ ya…”

 

His tone had something mixed into it, like he was hoping for approval, for Sans’ good graces. “i trust ya.” It was genuine, Death did trust this monster. And if Sans said he would be okay, then hell, he would be okay, he would be safe. “‘ll be good.”

  
  


Sans lifted Death up a little in his arms so he could nuzzle his face into the other’s. “thank you,” he said quietly, leaving small kisses over Death’s face. “i love y’, too. i won’t let anyone hurt you or reaper.”

  
  


Death murmured sweet nothings to Sans, purring at the affection he was given. Death stayed that way, even when they finally arrived at the town. Reaper was sticking close to Grillby, ignoring anyone and everyone, keeping his gaze on Sans and Death. 

 

He wanted to make sure they were okay, and never let them out of his sight. Not here, definitely not here.

  
  


Things seemed to go pretty fine so far, though. They definitely got attention once they entered town, people gasping, watching them, often getting out of their way, whispering. But they didn’t approach. Maybe because they were simply too scared to. Or maybe the way Sans held his staff high, proud and strong on display, made them think he had this under control. Made them think he was here with the demons for a purpose.

 

He found Aster and Hearth after a little bit, approaching the two as they seemed to be watching after the carriage.

  
  


Hearth choked up on his own spit when he saw Sans just  _ carrying  _ Death through town, with Reaper walking on his fours next to Grillby. Everyone staring at them.

 

Death turned and squeaked out a greetings.

 

Dammit why is he this cute?

 

“What. The. Fuck.” Hearth hissed, switching his gaze to Grillby and Sans.

 

Aster almost screamed in horror, his voice high as he saw his  _ children  _ here, in danger. “What is wrong with you!? How could you bring them here!?” He almost screeched, his sockets bulging out.

  
  


“shhh, don’ make a scene out of this!” Sans hissed quietly. “i couldn’t leave death with  _ him, _ so i didn’ have a choice.”   
  
“...I tried to stop him, but… he seems dead-set on this,” Grillby explained, his tone wary. “It seems to work out, though? No one has really approached us yet and Reaper and Death are doing just fine.” He gave Reaper a small pet to underline his point, feeling proud of both of the demons.

  
  


Reaper stuck his tongue out in annoyance. “I’M HUNGRY.” He said, fully expecting them to do something since he is surrounded by walking flesh food and isn’t allowed to have any.

 

Death looked at Sans, pawing at his chest to get him to look at him. “me too! me too! food!” He kicked his legs in hopes that would somehow make Sans give him meat faster.

 

Reaper looked at Grillby. “GIMME.” He demanded. Now his brother was hungry and it was their faults that they are stuck in this position. They  _ better  _ get them food if they know what’s good for  _ them  _ and this  _ town _ .

  
  


“I don’t have anything left,” Grillby said regretfully, turning the bag around that once carried their meat, only dust falling out. “Nothing.”   
  
“‘s ok,” Sans assured them quickly. “there’s food places here, we’ll getcha somethin’.” He placed Death down on the ground but kept holding onto his clawy hand, walking up to Aster and Hearth with his free hand outstretched.

 

“money.”

  
  


Death wiggled his hand out of Sans’ grasp, quickly climbing up on Sans’ back like a demon jetpack. It felt much safer being attached to Sans than next to him. It felt like Sans had him, protected him. It felt nice.

 

Aster quickly got some money from his pouch, the thought of two hungry demons in the middle of a populated town scared him. He really didn’t want his sons to get hurt, or worse.

 

“Here,  _ please  _ Sans. Don’t let my babies get hurt.” His tone was exasperated and tired, he would sound desperate if he wasn’t resigned to it. He could tell Sans wasn’t going to let up.

  
  


“‘s gonna be fine, chill,” Sans told him, pocketing the money and putting his hands on Death’s legs, to make it still look like he was holding him rather than just carrying him.

 

He left without further ado, Grillby only hurrying after them after giving his brother and Aster the promise he’d keep an eye on them. They quickly found a place to get their food at, a rich tavern that served wild meats.

 

He got looks once he entered the place, startled and scared, some angry, most of them hurrying out of the tavern as quick as they could. The only one that  _ couldn’t  _ was the owner as well as the young boy working for him. He was sent forward, body shaking as he approached Sans, Grillby and the two demons.

 

“S...Sirs? I-I’m a-afraid you’re s-scaring away our customers…”   
  
“oh, ‘m sorry,” Sans huffed back without delay, his tone sarcastic, carrying offense. “i didn’ know y’ weren’t servin’ the son of the  _ great sorcerer of the south. _ ” He saw the boys eyes widening in embarrassed shock, Grillby actually holding back a laugh.

 

“yea, ‘m ‘ere on a demon mission. but sure jus’ lemme  _ starve _ on it. guess i can just let  _ those _ two run free, too.” Sans scoffed, arms crossed as he added a mumbled, “ _ unappreciative pack. _ ”   
  
But the boy quickly shook his head no, feeling the angry glare of his boss almost as present as his own terrified fear. “No, no, please! We’ll serve you, of course we’ll server you!”

 

Grillby gave the boy a soft, pitiful smile as he nodded to him, ordering their food, before he scrambled off to prepare it.

  
  


Death sat next to Sans on the bench, giving him soft whines to pay attention to him. If he was going to play nice then Sans will have to distract him, give him attention. His body is still in that tingling feeling after a orgasmic high from sex, his heat taking it’s time to fully leave his body. 

 

Thankfully Reaper was acting nicely too. He sat on the floor since he was to big for the benches, staying close to Grillby and watching the owner and the boy working on their meal. Even better, Sans has order quite a bit of meat for both Death and Reaper, knowing their big appetite. 

 

Death must be pretty happy they didn’t have to hunt. But Reaper was a very active demon, he wasn’t so lazy as his brother, so being given food wasn’t so great for him as it was for his brother.

  
  


Sans was trying to give Death the attention he deserved, soft kisses and touches, holding him close. But they were still being watched, there were still people around them. And they still wanted to keep an impression of professionalism around themselves.

 

That didn’t stop Sans from keeping Death close, though, an arm around the demon, gentle but possessive, making clear that he was  _ his _ and no one got to take him away.

 

The boy brought their food hastily, placing it down as quick as he could to leave them be as quick as he could again. Which was just fine by them, though, the more privacy they had the better.

  
  


Reaper and Death dug in right away, taking whatever was close to them and already gulping it down. Already ignoring the other two in the building and enjoying their meal, Death just abandoned his need for Sans’ affection for his food.

 

Food will always be his greatest love…

 

Death’s gaze caught the eyes of the boy that worked there, the demon stuck his tongue out at him when the boy didn’t take his eyes off him. Scared, potter?

  
  


Potter was, in fact, very scared. Even though his name wasn’t Potter. But he was practically hiding behind the tavern’s bar, watching the demons with big, terrified eyes. He didn’t know why they were here, why they were eating their food or why the son of the Great Sorcerer of the South had two  _ demons _ under his custody. But he shouldn’t mess with a powerful sorcerer, no matter what.  _ Especially _ not when he had  _ two fucking demons _ by his side.

 

“We should probably dig in, before they eat everything away,” Grillby mused, his tone amused though as he began eating himself, much slower than the two demons. But they had ordered most of it for them anyways.

 

Sans just gave him a small, ‘eh,’ a shrug with the shoulders and began nibbling on one of the pieces of meat. He was much more busy watching his mate, making sure he was safe.

  
  


Death made sure to eat with his mouth open, letting the boy have a perfect view of his teeth chewing the meat into little pieces. He could almost feel his own teeth breaking the meat with barely a graze, he loved how sharp his teeth were, it really struck home to pray how doomed they were. Oh, those last few seconds on his preys face as they see his jaws ready to shred them.

 

His gaze never left the boys, almost tempting him to come over and fight him. Because oh boy, won’t that be fun.

  
  


But like hell would the boy ever come close if he didn’t absolutely have to. He was keeping himself low, not making a noise aside from a small, terrified squeak when he had to watch Death’s massive teeth on display like that.

 

Damn, he  _ really _ didn’t want to get close that. He’d probably lose a limb or two.

  
  


Most likely.

 

They weren’t disturbed from their meal until the very end, when Sans had to go up to them and pay. Death so happened to cling to him like a sloth, the demon grinning at the boy like he was food, but didn’t move from his spot.

 

Reaper stayed back, his head laying on the table and his tongue licking up the juices from the meat that dripped onto the plates.

  
  


Sans didn’t even notice Death threatening the boy like that. He  _ did _ notice the boy almost falling apart from how much he was shaking in fear, and he let his hand run over Death’s skull gently, giving the boy a cocky grin.

 

“don’ worry, i got ‘im under control.”

  
  


Goddamit Sans why do you have to scratch there. Oh yes! Right there! Ah, so nice~

 

Death closed his sockets as his head leaned to Sans, a loud and happy purr coming from his chest after Sans started scratching behind his horn. It earned him a lick or two from the demon, his meat smelling saliva making two stripes on the monster’s cheek.

  
  


“euuugh, death, not right after you ate!” Sans complained, wiping the spit off his face. But he was chuckling, happy and completely forgetting about trying to seem professional as he went back to the others, the four of them going to leave the tavern. Leaving a very shocked boy to look after them confused and traumatized, like he had just witnessed satan personally come up from hell and give this skeleton a kiss.


	47. beware death's curtain stick

They walked together through the market, Death cuddling up to Sans as much as possible to put others that are watching away. Like Sans was a big important person that no one can touch.

 

They soon made it to where Hearth and Aster were, Papyrus and Gaster with them. They didn’t look pleased with the person that was fixing their carriage though....

 

Death squeaked to get their attention, Aster bolting to them to see if they were okay. “You dear lord, you all are safe!”

  
  


“‘course we’re safe,” Sans said, scoffing like it was the most obvious thing ever. It  _ was. _ He had said he’d keep them safe, so he would.

 

Gaster, however, did not seem pleased about this, marching up to Sans immediately, keeping his voice low but still as angry as could be.

 

“What were you thinking?” He hissed. “We agreed to  _ not _ bring the demons here! You were  _ there! You _ agreed!”

 

“well tha’ was before y’ said i can’t stay with ‘em,” Sans hissed back at them. “i don’  _ care _ what you say, i’m  _ not _ leaving death alone with  _ him _ again.”   
  
Gaster narrowed his eyes at Sans, before glancing at Grillby. “Why…?” He asked curious and confused, but still keeping his serious tone. “What happened?”   
  
Grillby was quick, immediate to react. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said and pretended to be busy asking Reaper how he was doing, giving him calming pets, before anyone could push him on the topic anymore.

  
  


Reaper gave him a look as the flame pet him, like he was trying to tell him ‘I know your secrets.’ And he did, and he didn’t approve. That was his brother right there, his brother wouldn’t be used as a whore in a vulnerable time, not again.

 

Reaper wasn’t the only one giving Grillby a look, Hearth was also giving him the stink eye, boring his eyes into him like he was trying to get him to break and tell him. But he didn’t stay that way for long, because the person working on the carriage tapped his shoulder to ask him what wood they would like him to use.

 

Death moved his leg so his pawed foot rested on Gaster’s chest, and lightly but firmly pushed him away ever so slowly, more to avoid any conflict with the warlock, but still telling him to back off.

 

“no.” Death said, staring straight at Gaster, almost like he was challenging him, game of will, who would back down first?

  
  


Gaster threw back a look of offense, certainly not having expected that kind of disrespect from, well.  _ Anyone _ , really. But he didn’t say anything about it, instead simply glancing back to Sans.

 

“Well, I sure do hope you know what you’re doing,” he sighed out, his tone letting him know, for sure, that he was  _ not _ approving of what was going on. 

 

Sans, though, wasn’t even listening anymore, too mesmerized by Death, snickering at his adorable behavior.

  
  


“Hey, we should get some curtains for the carriage, we need new ones.” Hearth said out loud for the whole group to hear. “Why not just go now?”

 

Aster nodded softly, looking at Death and Sans nervously, but also a hint of determination in his gaze. “I think Grillby, Sans, and my boys should go. They are showing everyone that demons can be friendly. I want you boys to show that off. Will you go get the curtains?”

 

Before Grillby and Sans could even answer, Reaper stepped up and chirped out a happy “YES.” Before marching off without a clue where to go. Death yelped, looking at his brother in panic as he pushed Sans his direction.

 

Aster scrambled to get money out of his pocket to give to Grillby, “A-ah! Hurry, Don’t leave him alone!”

  
  


“...Are you  _ sure _ they should be the ones going?” Gaster asked his friend, skeptical, but not wanting to seem rude.

  
  


“They won’t be going far friend, see? That vender right there is selling curtains, they won’t even leave our sight, we will just watch.” Aster gently patted Gaster’s shoulder, giving him a small smile before going back to watch the kids.

  
  


Gaster sighed. He  _ knew _ Aster had a point, but he still wasn’t liking the idea, wasn’t liking  _ any _ of this.

 

But Grillby and Sans were already hurrying after Reaper anyways, Grillby gently putting a hand on Reaper to lead him into the right direction. He wasn’t sure  _ what _ got Reaper suddenly so motivated, but it was kind of adorable. They came to the small curtain, carpets and fabrics vendor, inspecting the many different kind and colors of curtains.

 

“They didn’t actually tell us which one, did they?”

 

“they did,” Sans said without hesitation, already feeling over one of the curtains. “blue one. this one.”   
  
Grillby eyed him suspiciously, being  _ pretty _ sure no one ever told them that.

  
  


Death sniffed at the one Sans was touching, flinching away and hissing at it, when he saw Sans’ hand still touching it he slapped it away. “no, bad.”

 

The demon grabbed Sans’ hand to brush at it, like someone would on a table or when you are brushing dust away. “next.”

  
  


“next?” Sans repeated, tone absolutely surprised. He hasn’t expected Death to want a word in choosing it, hadn’t thought the demon  _ cared. _ But damn, he wasn’t gonna argue with his mate.

 

“‘ow ‘bout this one?” He asked, hand running over the next curtain as he ignored Grillby’s small snickering.

  
  


Death smelled that one too, but it had the same smell as the other one. These objects were infected with fleas, he didn’t like them. Death hissed at the next one, this time bringing his face close so he can see if he can spot any of them crawling. He did, he grabbed the small bug with his index and thumb, holding it out for Sans to see. 

 

“bad ‘gain. next.” The white flea was squirming between his nails, until Death squeezed it and it popped.

  
  


“none of us have hair, fur or skin,” Sans noted as he watched the small insect die. But Grillby seemed pretty much on-board with Death, feeling over another, silky curtain, trying to sense if he could feel any bugs or fleas. When he didn’t he raised it slightly to Death and Reaper.

 

“How do you like this one?”

  
  


“COLOR BAD. YOU HAVE BAD TASTE.” Reaper looked at Grillby, his tone and expression plain, almost like he was silently judging the flame.

  
  


“I like it…,” Grillby muttered quietly, his hand letting go of the bronze-brownish colored fabric sadly. “...I think it looks nice…”

  
  


Death snorted, hiding his face in Sans’ shoulder to cover up his laughing. The demon leaned to a curtain near him, but it was to far, so he got off Sans’ back and went for his mate’s hand. He didn’t pull or ask for his attention, it looked almost subconscious as he turned to sniff at the barrel of curtains all rolled up side by side. Like Sans was a life raft or something safe to hold onto.

 

Hmm, these don’t have any bad smell on them.  _ Now  _ he pulled the hand to get his attention.

  
  


Sans reacted after a little bit, having been looking over some more curtains himself. But he felt Death pull at his hand and gently squeezed it back affectionately in the short delay of time before he looked over to Death curiously.

  
“found one?”

  
  


“all d’ese ‘re good.” Death murmured, squatting down and sitting on the back of his hind legs so he will have the least amount of attention from the vendor as possible. Leaning into Sans more when the vendor walked by so his mate could take care of him, it just so happened they stopped in front of them. Oh Great.

 

“May I help you?”

  
  


Sans looked over the fabrics Death had shown him, barely paying attention to the vendor at all, except muttering an absent, “all a ya curtains ‘ave bugs…,” to them. It was Grillby who ended up answering the vendor, his hand instinctively going to hold on Reaper.

 

“We’re looking for new curtains for our carriage,” he told them, before Sans let out a satisfied noise.

  
“i like this one,” he chirped, hand reaching out for one of the curtains.

  
  


Death made a small complaining squeak, lifting his paw to rest on Sans’ hand, and slowly pushing his hand to the one beside the curtain Sans’ originally choose. His face was blank, and his movements like he was trying to attract as little attention as possible, but failing due to sticking out.

 

He looked at Sans’ hopefully, almost pleading with his hollow eye sockets. How can hollow sockets be so cute?

  
  


Sans didn’t even fight it when Death moved his hand, in fact had to physically fight not letting out an enamoured squeak when he did it. 

 

“this one,” Sans chirped without hesitation, picking the one Death had lead his hand to. Grillby watched with a small, lopsided smile. But he got out the money needed, handing it to the vendor.   
  
“We’ll take that one.”

  
  


The vendor nodded dumbly, accepting the change without his eyes leaving the demon. He went to his chest at the back of the shop to grab the rest of the pieces of curtains, mostly keeping the other pieces away and locked just in case his items were stolen, well at least they won’t have the full set.

 

He grabbed the curtain they chose and wrapped the other fabrics around it, before handing it back. But before he could hand it to the flame monster or the warlock, Death grabbed it with his mouth and ran off to where the carriage and the rest of the group was.

 

The vendor snatched his hand back quickly when the demon grabbed it, watching it run with the curtain in its mouth.  Death was holding the curtain like a dog would a stick, the sides of the rolled up curtains hitting monsters and humans as the demon passed. Knocking everyone that was in range, going straight to Papyrus to sit on his butt and offer the curtains to him, like a dog giving their master the stick to throw again.

  
  


Sans and Grillby let out a gasp when they watched Death run away, Sans almost feeling a pang of betrayal, feeling like Death had left him alone. Though he saw him heading for Papyrus and relaxed.

 

It was  _ Grillby _ that actually ended up running after Death, eyes looking panicked, glancing to his sides every once in a while, muttering quick apologies to the people Death a knocked over. But he didn’t actually stop until he caught up to the demon, making it look like a crazy game of cat and mouse, which had Sans bursting out in laughter, still standing by the curtains vendor.

 

“OH!!!” Papyrus chirped surprised. “THANK YOU!!! YOU DID VERY GOOD!” He took the rolled up curtain out of Death’s mouth gently, giving him some soft pets.

  
  


Death purred under the hand, leaning into the touch. 

 

Reaper only decided to follow after he saw Death with Papyrus, giving Sans a bump with his hip before he too, went to the others, not looking back to see if Sans was really following.

  
  


Sans had a hard time getting himself together again, though feeling Reaper bump him made him remember where he was again. He probably shouldn’t be letting the demon walk around alone, even if the others could still see him, so he quickly followed up until he was with the others.

 

He immediately went for Death, giving him a small hug, giggling into the demon’s neck, letting out a small, “nice one.”   
  
“Don’t reward him,” Grillby huffed out a bit aghast. “He could’ve gotten in danger like that!”

 

“BUT… HE JUST WANTED TO BRING ME THE CURTAINS!”

  
  


Death stuck his tongue out at Grillby, turning to latch himself onto Sans, like the skeleton could protect him from Grillby’s scorn. 

 

“did good?” He looked over to Gaster and Aster, watching them to get a confirmation that it really so bad they were here, and even got a job done.

 

Aster nodded with a wide smile, “You did very good, good job.” He watched with joy as both of his sons beamed at him, looks like the demons like to please as much as they like to eat.

 

Huh.

  
  


Gaster sighed, being a lot more on Grillby’s side on this. But he decided not to ruin this for them, he felt like he had already done so enough times lately. Instead he decided to help Papyrus put the new curtains onto the carriage, the fabric having a rich black color.

 

Sans was still all over Death, holding onto his lovable mate adoringly. “y’ did so good,” he hummed happily, getting a little sigh from Grillby.

  
“...Be a little more careful next time,” he told the demon, but kept his tone gentle. “Just to not startle anyone. Okay?”

  
  


Death huffed, looking away. Pshh! Who does he think he is? Telling  _ him  _ what to do?! He ain’t his dog, no one can command him! Well…

 

“no! only snans!”

 

“Only Sans?” Aster asked, looking at his youngest son, hoping he would elaborate. 

 

“only listen ta snas!”

 

“Oh!” Aster’s sockets widen, looking at Sans with new hope. If Sans is the only one Death will listen to, then he can keep the demon in check! Death would behave if Sans is the one telling him what not to do! Like stop hurting people! Or do tasks that would normallycan’t be done!

  
  


Grillby gave Sans a hopeful look as well, hoping he would tell Death what Grillby had just told him. He must know that a demon running around this recklessly was dangerous. And usually Sans would. But right now Sans was still too enamoured with how adorable Death was acting today.

 

He was giving the demon soft kisses, uncaring anymore if anyone saw, which - hoh boy - stressed Gaster to no ends. He didn’t mind his son loving the demon, but other people surely would, and he’s been on the edge ever since he saw Sans in town with Death and Reaper.

 

“Will the carriage be finished soon?” He asked. “I… think it is time for us to leave soon.”

  
  


“In about two days sir.” The man working on their carriage answered, “This is a big hole in your carriage, it’s going to take some time.”

 

Aster sighed, rubbing between his sockets.

 

Reaper crawled over to Papyrus, pressing into the monster, his sockets drooping. When was the last time this demon slept?

 

Death slept all the time, but Reaper always looked around and stayed watch, not actually going to sleep. The demon looked so cozy in Sans’ arms, peppered by kisses and purring happily into his mate.

 

Maybe sleep was finally catching up to the bigger demon…

  
  


Papyrus gently put an arm around the tired demon when he noticed him against him, stroking him slowly. He looked towards his father curiously.

 

“ARE WE STAYING IN AN INN, TONIGHT??? WITH THEM???” He asked, the excitement very obvious in his voice. Gaster, however, was less excited, letting out a tense sigh.

  
“It seems like we have to,” he said, sounding almost like someone giving up. “We have to be careful for them not to break anything, though.”

 

“eh, they’re good,” Sans said simply, still cuddling Death close. “you good, right? no breaky stuff.”

  
  


Death looked at him with a content smile. “da ya wan’ me ta?”

 

  
Sans hummed out a small, “nah,” in response.

  
  


“kay.” Death murmured, his tail wrapping around one of Sans’ legs. “no break.”

 

Aster looked to Gaster with a huge smile, wanting to see the positive results from the demon. Death just agreed not to break stuff, this is a huge step! His smile was almost splitting.

  
  


Gaster noticed him with a small pang of guilt. He’s… probably really been too harsh on them lately. They all just seemed so happy about every progress the demons were making… 

  
“Well… I’m really glad to hear that,” he eventually hummed out. “We should get to the inn soon, before it gets too late.” Before more people got to see them with the demons.

 

Papyrus agreed readily, though, and Sans and Grillby didn’t seem to have any reason to complain either. It’s been a long day, and even if it wasn’t particularly late yet, they seemed ready for a break.

  
  


They bid the worker that was fixing their carriage goodbye, and went to the inn they stayed in before.

 

The demons stayed close as they were led into the inn, the inn keeper choking on her own spit as she saw the creatures enter, screaming in terror. 

 

“AHH! Kill them, someone kill them!” Her long ears went down in fright.

 

Both Death and Reaper shrinked from the high pitch scream, wincing at the loud sound, even more since they knew it was because of them.

 

“Excuse you mam, they are quite tame and respectful, they won’t do anyone no harm. Control yourself.” Aster scolded, glaring at the bunny at the front while he led Sans that was still holding Death and Reaper to their room.

 

Hearth nodded, “They will behave, they are our friends.” 

 

The Woman didn’t look pleased at all, looking like she was going to object but didn’t. These people were powerful, two powerful sorcerers and demon slayers, if they said it was okay, then it should be. She still narrowed her eyes at the thought of two demons in her inn. 

  
  


Sans scoffed, not even bothering to pay the inn keeper any attention. Instead he went straight to the room Aster lead them to, holding Death close and making sure Reaper and Grillby were still close, too.

 

Gaster was the only one to stay back in the end, sending Papyrus with the others to their room. He faced the rabbit monster running the inn, handing her the gold owed as well as some extra.

  
“They won’t harm anyone,” he assured her once more, hoping he was saying the truth with this. “I do apologize for frightening you, though.”

  
  


“You better be right….” She muttered, taking the gold.


	48. another person on the list that is mad at gribbles

Well.

 

They weren’t hurting anyone…

 

Death and Reaper were currently bouncing on the beds, acting like little children that don’t want to go to sleep. Sans didn’t want to let go, so Death hauled him up onto his back. They both spinned and did tricks in the air as they went from bed to bed.

 

They really were children at times…

 

“Sons…. please no.” Aster sighed, watching his sons jump around like they are having the time of their lives. Hearth was right next to him watching as well with crossed arms, his expression was unreadable.

 

  
Sans wasn’t even trying to stop them, just clinging to Death’s back, giggling excitedly. Papyrus joined them as well, jumping from bed to bed, trying to imitate their flips and tricks.

 

When Gaster came back to see…  _ this, _ he let out a small, stressed sigh, running a hand over his face. “What is going on…?” he asked Aster, like he was the one responsible for them.

  
  


“Children will be children?” Aster said it like it was supposed to be a question, but he gave Gaster a lopsided smile and a shrug. 

 

“I wanna join….” Hearth whispered under his breath, watching them with that same unreadable expression.

  
  


Having heard him, Grillby threw Hearth an odd side glance, but decided to just let it be. His brother was… weird like that sometimes.

 

Gaster on the other hand sighed once more. He lifted his staff, pointing at one of the beds to create a barrier of magic around it, keeping the two demons from jumping onto it.

 

“Well… I will be heading to bed. Goodnight everyone.” He used his staff once more to cut a hole in the barrier and get into bed.

  
  


Aster kindly asked Grillby and Hearth to grab and put the demons down, while he went to Papyrus to ask if he could stop as well.

  
  


“NO!!!!” Papyrus practically screamed, before trying to jump away from anyone who could possibly try to get him.

  
  


Hearth walked up to the bed and waited for one of them to come near, Reaper did. He lifted his arms to grab him, but the force Reaper had and his weight made him only direct the big demon to fall over him.

 

Well at least he caught him and made him stop…

 

Death on the other hand jumped to the next bed, but Grillby stood in the way, making the demon crash into his arms. Death looked up from Grillby’s chest to whine at him, Sans still clinging to his back, Grillby managing to hold both of the skeletons.

  
  


Well. Catching them turned out to be easier than expected. And Sans looked absolutely livid about it, glaring at Grillby with murder intent. But he held himself back, not wanting to attack him in front of the others. Gaster would be pissed.

 

“Sorry,” Grillby muttered out hastily, though, still noticing Sans’ rage. “Sorry. I just need you to stop bouncing.”

  
  


Death whined again, wiggling out of Grillby’s grip and sinking to the floor, like he had a big defeat, turning to pudding on the floor from shame. 

 

Reaper cooed from the other side of the room, mourning his own defeat as well, with Hearth still under him, hugging him to make sure he wouldn’t get away.

 

“See Papyrus, everyone is stopping, you should too.” Aster tried to reason, giving a hopeful look to the young skeleton.

  
  


“NEVER!!!” Papyrus screeched, still jumping from bed to bed. “I WILL NOT LET MY DEFEATED FRIENDS DOWN!!!”

 

“you show ‘em, paps,” Sans cheered him up, still clinging to Death, more content now that they weren’t in Grillby’s grip anymore.

  
  


Aster sighed, lifting his hand up to turn Papyrus’ soul blue, making the young skeleton stop in mid air, before slowly being put on the floor next to Reaper, who cooed in greetings to the defeated team.

 

“There.” Aster smiled, nodding at all the downed children.

  
  


“NOOOOOO,” Papyrus lamented, lying still on the floor. But he scooted up to Reaper as soon as the magic let off, putting his arms around him with a small huff, completely ignoring the Hearth underneath him. “I HAVE LET YOU DOWN. I’M SORRY…”

  
  


Death crawled over to the force field protecting Gaster, pressing his nails to the barrier like he was expecting it to pop. Death glared when he couldn’t get to Gaster, his hand sparking light blue before it started to go through, putting all his strength and magic into his hand to break through.

 

He soon started to faze into the barrier, crawling little by little with every bit of progress he could.

  
  


The more Death went through the barrier, though, the harder it was for Sans to hold onto him. And by the time he was starting to lose his grip on his mate, he let out small, “no, no, no,  _ no, _ ”’s, slowly getting peeled off his mate. By the end of it he was just lying with his back on the floor, looking sadly up at the ceiling.

  
  


Death glanced at Sans, whining at him softly, like he was the one that let go of him. The demon quickly turned to Gaster, figuring he could let Sans in, but he made the barrier in the first place… so maybe not.

 

Still have to try though.

 

Death climbed onto the bed, laying on top of Gaster, his face hovering over the older males. He licked Gaster’s cheek to get him to wake up, leaving two seconds between each lick to see for any reaction.

  
  


Gaster had barely just fallen asleep, grumbling when he already got so rudely disturbed. He opened his eyes slowly, not sure what to expect. It surely  _ wasn’t  _ Death’s face inches from his own.

 

He gasped startled, scooting back, until his neck hit the wall the bed stood to. Only by then had he calmed down a little, letting out an exhausted sigh.

 

“Death, please… You scared me.”

  
  


Death cooed softly, licking Gaster’s face to calm him, he did, in fact, have a smug face.

 

He pointed to Sans, who was laying on the floor sadly on the other side of the barrier. The demon had snuggled up to Gaster’s side, not fully getting off of him, but laying on half of his body.

 

“snas.” Death said, like he was trying to reach for him, but couldn’t, looking at Gaster like he could fix it, and he could, that’s why he  _ is  _ looking at him.

  
  


Gaster glanced from Death to Sans, taking a few moments to really figure out the situation.

 

“How… did you get in here…?” He asked the demon eventually, once he noticed what Death wanted. Once he remembered the barrier. But he wasn’t angry, Death didn’t seem to want any harm, he was just… surprised.

  
  


Death shrugged, giving Gaster three more licks before gesturing back at Sans. “i want snas!” His paws gently shook Gaster’s shoulders, like he was getting him back on task.

 

“snas!” He called for his mate, like he was telling him to get over here. Maybe he was.

  
  


“Sans?” Gaster asked in an attempt to correct the demon.

  
  


“snans!” Death challenged, his tone outraged, like  _ Gaster  _ was the one insulting Sans by calling him that.

  
  


Gaster simply let out a small sigh, deciding to give in. He picked up the staff to his side, quickly removing the barrier of magic.

  
“Sans, come here,” he called over to the small skeleton still lying on the floor. “Death is calling for you.”   
  
Sans reacted as soon as the demons name fell, getting up from the ground. He blinked towards them surprised, not having realized the barrier was down. But as soon as he did, he rushed over to them, climbing over Gaster to get to his mate.

  
“we sleepin’ ‘ere tonight?” He asked Death curiously, already having his arms around him, lying on top of Gaster.

  
  


Death nodded happily, his head resting on Gaster’s chest while his whole body curled around Sans. The demon did move his head to give Gaster a lick in gratitude before cuddling back into Sans. Some he purred softly, feeling nice and cozy with his new family.

  
  


Gaster certainly hadn’t expected them to just… stay there. But Sans didn’t seem to bother getting off, instead making himself comfortable, and Death already seemed practically asleep. And, well… he didn’t see a reason not to let them. They seemed peaceful, happy and comfortable.

 

Gaster gave the two, his son and his demon mate, a soft smile, before slowly falling asleep again himself.

  
  


Hearth was practically dead, Reaper has fallen asleep on him and Papyrus was no help, falling asleep with the demon on him. Hearth managed to wiggle out from under the demon, gasping for air when he finally broke free.

 

He looked at everyone around him.

 

There were four beds in this room, one had Gaster and oddly, Death and Sans too. Another had Aster sitting down onto it, getting ready to lay down. And last his brother, standing there.

 

Hearth moved towards his brother and tapped his shoulder, gesturing to the door, “Can we talk for a moment?”   
  


 

Grillby gave Hearth a surprised look, dreading slightly what this would be about. But he gave him a nod anyway, already heading to the door with Hearth.

  
“Sure,” he said, his voice slightly quieter. Both not to disturb the others, but also because he probably wouldn’t want the others to know whatever Hearth would want to talk about. 

  
  


They both walked out of their room, Hearth turning to him with a serious expression, one of will and force. “What happened? Sans was really mad at you, now he brought the demons into the fucking town? What made you lose his trust in you?” 

 

His eyes were narrowed in suspicion, like he was asking. ‘What did you do?’

  
  


Right. Of course it would be about…  _ this. _

 

“...I don’t think he  _ ever _ really trusted me,” Grillby said instead of actually answering Hearth’s questions. “He  _ is _ extremely possessive over Death… I’m not sure there’s anything that can be done about that.”

  
  


“You didn’t answer my question. Clearly something happened.” Hearth wasn’t about to be lead astray, he knows what he wants and avoiding it will only make it worse. “It’s bad enough you are trying to beat around it.”

  
  


Grillby sighed, one hand running through the flames on his head. “Hearth…,” he muttered out, his voice strained and tense. “You don’t need to know. It’s not important anymore, just… let it be.”

  
  


“If it wasn’t important, then you wouldn’t mind sharing. What? Did you hurt Death, or even Reaper?” Hearth challenged, crossing his arms with clear dissatisfaction. 

  
  


Hearth clearly wasn’t planning on letting this go, and the more he pushed it the worse, the more uncomfortable Grillby felt. He had his own arms crossed, but in a much more passive way, like he was shielding himself from the intrusion.

 

He’s messed up. He  _ knew _ he had, he knew he had messed up so bad, but… He had  _ hoped _ they could just pretend it didn’t happen and move on, that’s what Sans seemed very content to do. Bringing it up again just… just reminded him of how much he’s messed up.

 

“Death was… in heat…,” he muttered out, his voice smaller than usually.

  
  


Hearth took a moment to understand what that meant, but once he did, he looked almost desperate. “No…. No…. no you didn’t… you didn’t!” It was mostly resigned, but also in disbelief.

 

His arms were uncrossed, he was sort of pacing, but mostly grabbing his head, like it was to much for him. “Why!?”

  
  


“He was- I thought- I-I thought he  _ wanted _ me to!” Grillby tried to defend himself. On hindsight, though, it seemed a lot more like Death had thought Grillby had been Sans this whole time. 

  
  


“No! You know damn well Death wouldn’t. Fuck. Why? You knew I liked him, you knew. Yet you still went after him, fucked him! Do I mean that little to you? Do you hate me so much you would fuck someone you knew I liked since the minute I first saw him? Yeah Sans stole him from me, but you?" He looked to the side, heartbroken.

 

“You are my brother… I know you see me as a joke but, I didn’t think you would make a bigger fool out of me by doing something like  _ this.” _ He turned away, shaking in place.

 

“Fuck…. fuck you. I hate you too, damn.” Hearth stormed off, to the entrance of the inn, “I need to be alone.” He called, ignoring anything and everything Grillby even  _ tried  _ to say.

 

How could he? How could they? Hearth was the one who fell for Death first, and Sans stole him while he was gone. He would of thought his own brother had more respect for him and his being. But what did he do?

 

He knowingly fucked someone he  _ knew  _ Hearth liked! Like he was laughing at his brother by dicking the one his heart yearned for. Was he always the butt of the joke? Apparently. He feels like half of his soul is gone.

 

His last and only family, betrayed him. It was no secret Hearth liked Death, since the very beginning, but fuck, Grillby just took Death from him, just like how Sans did. They are all selfish bastards, who only care about themselves.

 

A tear slipped from Hearth’s eye as he slammed the front door of the inn closed, walking into the street alone in the dark.

 

-

 

Grillby watched after Hearth, arms crossed as he cursed under his breath. That’s  _ not _ how it was, not how Grillby thought at all. He knew, of course, Hearth had been pining for Death, but… Death already belonged to  _ Sans. _

 

It didn’t matter whether Grillby liked him too, whether Hearth liked him,  _ neither _ of them really had a chance with Death, or Sans for that matter. He hadn’t thought of Hearth when it happened, simply because it  _ shouldn’t _ have happened to begin with. Whether Hearth liked Death or not.

 

This  _ wasn’t _ about Hearth.

 

But… that probably didn’t make it better, did it?

 

Grillby let out a tense sigh, feeling like the scum of earth as he went back into their room. For now he really could only hope his brother would be able to calm down. Would be able to forgive him.


	49. bedroom adventures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Content warning: Sexual content**

Morning came around, Death was splayed over both Gaster and Sans, munching on to Gaster’s collar like he was dreaming of eating something, drool all over the collar and slowly dripping into the rest of the fabric and Gaster’s neck.

 

Aster snickering at the sight, not bothering to help Gaster at all with the sleeping demon. The warlock didn’t help  _ him  _ get all the boys to stop bouncing on the beds.

  
  


Gaster woke up to the feeling of something wet running down his neck. It took him full five minutes to realize that the wetness was demon drool from the demon on top of him, and immediately sat up. He tried to move Death down off him gently, but his expression was more than a little disturbed.

  
  


“Had a nice sleep?” Aster asked, with the biggest smile on his face, his face softened when he looked to his son, a hand went to carres Death’s cheek, admiring his peaceful son chewing on Gaster’s collar like a cute little baby. “Awww~”

  
  


Gaster groaned when he noticed Death still stuck to his collar, trying to get him off, but worrying about tearing his clothes that way. So instead he glanced towards Aster, eyes desperately seeking for some kind of help.

  
  


“You know, your son was the most against in stopping their bouncing from bed to bed last night, I’m so happy you helped…” Aster mused, his tone dripping with sarcasm. Aster let go of Death’s cheek and sat at the very edge of the bed, getting comfortable in just watching Gaster struggle. “My son is adorable, isn’t he?” He asked casually, like they were talking about the weather.

  
  


Gaster threw Aster a glare, knowing very well what he was doing. And oh, oh how much dirt he could dig up on his oh so adorable son. On Aster’s oh so adorable  _ demon _ son. 

 

But Gaster wasn’t that low, so he let out a sigh instead, reaching for his staff inste-

  
  


“Don’t you dare.” Aster warned, his smile still friendly and sockets closed, but it held a dark undertone to it, threatening.

 

Death continuing to nom on Gaster’s collar peacefully in his sleep.

  
  


“Don’t worry,” Gaster muttered out. “I wasn’t going to.” Well, he was  _ considering _ it. But he didn’t like using magic on his friends and family, so… he most likely wouldn’t have.

 

Instead he used his staff to try to pry open the demon’s jaw, trying to get it to unclench from Gaster’s collar.

  
  


“Just rub at the back of his horns…” Aster said helpfully, watching with softened eye lights.

  
  


Gaster glanced at Aster skeptically. But since his own attempts didn’t seem to be working, he might as well try.

 

He gently rubbed the back of the demons horn, curiously watching for a reaction.

  
  


Death’s body after a few seconds, his whole body relaxing, going limp, including Death’s jaw, making him let go of the collar. Death started to purr ever so softly, scooting up to cuddle his face into Gaster’s neck, the vibrations from his purring loud and happy. Aster smiled at such a positive reaction from his son, the image of a good friend bonding with his son, his precious son he was deprived of for so long.

  
  


Gaster smiled, too, satisfied of the outcome, but also more than that. He hadn’t expected the demon to react so adorably and wasn’t planning to stop petting the demon gently. 

 

He looked up at Aster with a small sparkle in his eyes, his voice quiet when he asked, “How did you know…?”

  
  


Aster smile grew when he saw Gaster’s face, his own lighting up in joy. “I sometimes watch Sans and Death interact, to see how your son treats mine. Sans is spoiling him in love, watching those two completely in love is quite refreshing…. and beautiful.” His gaze trailed off to the skeleton next to Gaster, still asleep.

 

“I couldn’t be happier my boy choose yours….”

  
  


“I…” Gaster felt another small pang of guilt, the hand gently petting Death slowing. He glanced over to his own son. “...I’m worried for Sans,” he admitted quietly. “I know he… loves Death, but… he’s been so aggressive.”   
  
He was worried the whole mating thing was going to Sans’ head. No. He  _ knew _ it was. It was happening and he had to watch it before his eyes, and he had  _ no _ idea what to do against it.

  
  


“...” Aster stared at the wall above Gaster’s head, lost in thought. “Then…. maybe we  _ shouldn’t  _ make Sans react like that. Sans won’t act that way if no one touches Death in a inappropriate way, if we simply just let them  _ be  _ together, and not drive them apart from splitting them or even someone coming in between. Sans wouldn’t  _ need  _ to act that way. Their bond is still new, right?” 

 

Aster didn’t wait for an answer, he mostly asked to see if Gaster was still following. “Won’t their bond form naturally if we let them stay together, it’s just like a new couple, they would always want to be together. Only when that high you get when entering a relationship goes away, they are more okay with separating. As long as they don’t feel like their relationship is threatened when the other is not around, then they won’t have a worry when they  _ do  _ seperate.”

 

Aster looked at Gaster to see what his thoughts were, “Do you find this to be a good idea?”

  
  


“...I suppose so,” Gaster muttered, though there was still worry deep in his voice. No matter how hard they’d try, Gaster doubted they could  _ always _ keep them happy. It felt like there was always something going on to make Sans feel like he needed to protect Death.

 

“There’s…  _ something _ going on between them and the priest brothers, though,” Gaster decided to note. “I’m not sure what, but… I don’t think Sans trusts them a lot around Death.”

  
  


“Yes, I noticed little events that caused Sans to be outraged…. Like when Hearth touched Death in his privates, and yesterday. Remember when we first started traveling together Sans had no problem with Death being held by them, now he looks like they will take my son away. We will have to talk to them, make sure they understand what is happening, perhaps they should just not engage around Death at all for now….” Aster mused, a hand on his chin as he looked down at the mattress.

 

His attention went to his son when the demon whined softly at Gaster, unhappy that the petting slowed to a stop, but he still didn’t wake.

  
  


It seemed like an odd plan, and Gaster wasn’t sure how he felt about… encouraging all of this. About telling the priests to keep away, rather than getting his son to understand he couldn’t  _ act _ this way.

 

But Gaster’s own attempts obviously hadn’t worked, so… maybe he should just listen to Aster. He was a smart sorcerer after all, and Gaster respected him. He would try doing things his way.

 

For now, though, Gaster glanced back down at the demon cuddling to him, continuing to gently pet him. “...We should probably do that,” Gaster finally agreed. “I hope this will work out…”

  
  


Aster nodded, he got up and headed for the door, he turned and looked at Gaster as he slowly closed the door. “I’m going to find the brothers then, Hearth didn’t come back last night and Grillby went after him an hour ago, when I come back. You better still be loving my son.” His tone was a little accusing and maybe the tiniest bit threatening. But the sorcerer left, closing the door softly, footsteps slowly getting softer until they were gone.

 

Almost like Death was responding to his father’s command/threat, he cuddled up more to Gaster and cooed happily, his purring loud as before.

  
  


Gaster watched Aster leave, shaking a little, almost like he could feel the threat crawling down his back. But he continued to pet Death gently, the purring feeling quite relaxing.

 

Sans woke up a bit after Aster left, not immediately saying anything. Instead he watched his father quietly, lying by the side of the bed unnoticed. He hadn’t expected to be waking up to his dad petting his mate. Though he didn’t mind, he  _ was _ surprised. Wasn’t Gaster against them keeping the demons around?

 

“‘e’s got you charmed up?” Sans asked eventually, grinning cheekily at Gaster. The older monster almost jerked surprised at the voice.

 

“He… does  _ not _ have me ‘charmed up,’ Sans,” Gaster huffed out.

 

“eh, looks like it,” Sans argued, crawling closer to Death. “my mate, though. give back.” He held his arms out, hands doing a little grabby motion, like he was expecting Gaster to hand Death over. And… he did. A little reluctantly, but Sans stayed close anyways once he got Death back, simply curling his limbs around him and seemingly going back to sleep.

  
  


Death cooed happily, his sockets fluttering open, looking at Sans’ face. Death’s face formed into the biggest smile when he saw his mate there. The demon licked Sans’ face in greetings, cooing softly and cuddling up to his mate like it would save his life. Death’s gaze turned to look at Gaster, not saying anything, but his posture was enough to tell him everything.

 

He didn’t want to let go, didn’t want to leave him. “don’ take em ‘way ‘gain.” Death was referring to when Sans had to go into the town, leaving Death behind when his heat was just around the corner.

  
  


Gaster’s look was soft and apologetic as he watched them, Sans cuddling closer to the demon, giggling happily just for having him here…

 

“I won’t,” Gaster replied. “Don’t worry… I won’t.”

 

“won’ let ‘im either,” Sans hummed out as he nuzzled Death, and Gaster didn’t doubt that. Even if he’d  _ try _ to separate them again, he didn’t think Sans would let that happen so easily.

  
  


Death smiled at the skeleton under him, poking his nose with his left index finger. “silly mate!” He giggled.

 

“ _ i  _ won’ let  _ any  _ of dem!”

  
  


Sans snorted, but hummed appreciatively at the demon’s words. He put his arms a bit tighter around Death, pulling him closer to himself. 

 

“kay,” he hummed out quietly, face close to Death’s. “i trust you.”

  
  


“kay.” Death chirped, his leg going to Gaster’s hip and pushing him off the bed fluidly. Thankfully, Reaper had laid Papyrus on a bed and wandered over, catching Gaster before he could hit the floor.

 

Reaper looked at Gaster with a blank face. “HI.”

  
  


Gaster landed in Reaper’s arms with a huff, wide eyes, surprised about what just happened. He could still see Death and Sans on the bed, Sans laughing giddily at his father’s misfortune, chirping a soft, “god, i love you,” to the demon. 

 

“Uhm… Thank you,” he muttered a bit awkwardly to the demon that had caught him.

  
  


Death formed his tail to a shape of a heart, directing it to Gaster with a lopsided grin, giggling evilly. 

 

Reaper licked Gaster in greetings, before leaning to Death to give him a lick in greetings, purring softly until he moved to Sans, giving him a little lick as well.

 

Well Reaper was in a good mood. And it surely got Death in a good mood too, the smaller demon was beaming in joy!

  
  


And it was affecting the others, too, Sans giving Reaper a few happy pets, and even Gaster’s mood seemed to lighten, though he was still kind of befuddled over the situation he was in. Still being in Reaper’s arms and all.

 

“You can let me down now,” Gaster told the demon, though he went to pet him gently. 

  
  


Reaper gently let Gaster down, looking around to give a licking greetings to his father, but couldn’t find him. “D….DAD…..?”

 

Death perked up and looked around too, sniffing to try and pick up his scent, but finding nothing. The two demons looked at Gaster, since he was the one mostly with Aster. “where is pa?”

  
  


“He went to look for Hearth and Grillby,” Gaster told them as he reached out for his staff now that he was finally properly out of bed. He quickly casted a spell to let magic run down his clothes, straightening them, but also getting the demon drool out of them.

 

“Apparently they left during the night? He should be back soon, though, do not worry.”

  
  


Reaper deflated at the news, grumbling as he waddled over to Papyrus, before just flopping down on the skeleton, being careful not to poke or hurt the skeleton.

 

‘I WANT FATHER!’ Reaper clicked.

 

‘be ‘ere soon.’ Death clicked back, settling back down on his mate and getting comfortable. 

  
  


Papyrus squeaked surprised when he felt a big demon land on him, eyes opening in surprise. “OH!” He chirped out happily, though, his voice slightly groggy from sleep. “GOOD MORNING REAPER!!” He gave him a gentle cuddle, happy to see the demon with him.

  
  


Reaper gave him a lick in greetings, chirping in delight that Papyrus was awake and ready to play with him again. But before playing, he would rather eat now.

 

“FOOD?!?” Reaper asked excitedly. Only for Death to bolt up from his cozy position next to Sans.

 

“food?” He asked, completely pumped.

 

“FOOD!” “food!” “FOOD!” “food!”

 

They cheered back and forth, both responding to each others cheer, Reaper looking at Papyrus for food while Death was shaking Sans for food. Even though Gaster was the one that is most likely be able to provide food more than the younger skeletons.

  
  


“DAD!!!” Papyrus yipped helplessly. “DAD!!! WE NEED FOOD!”

 

“Oh no,” Gaster uttered out worried. They didn’t have any food close and he didn’t think the inn served any. He wasn’t sure how safe it was to take two  _ hungry _ demons out into town either…

 

“Will you be fine if I leave to get some food?” He asked slightly concerned, mostly eying Sans. “Can you keep an eye on them?”

 

Sans just shrugged, unhelpful as ever. “y’ wanna wait for pops t’ get ya food?” He asked Death and Reaper instead.

  
  


Death whined, shaking his head, his mouth capturing Sans’ arm, licking it up inside his mouth and nomming on his gently. It didn’t hurt at all, the teeth barely even touched Sans’ bones, he was mostly sucking and licking at it. No area left unsobered.

 

Reaper crawled under one of the beds, he was too big to fit under the bed, so the bed only got lifted up from under him. “HURRY UP POPS.” He really wasn’t in the mood to be gawked at and stared at everywhere he went right now.

 

Death snorted around Sans’ arm, giggling at his brother’s use of ‘pops’.

  
  


Gaster nodded, quickly putting on his cloak and taking his staff and some gold with him. “I’ll be quick,” he assured them, before hurrying out of the room to get some meat on the market.

 

Papyrus was still on the bed, now lifted slightly up by Reaper. He crawled to the edge of it, peeking down to glance at the demon, giving him a soft smile.

 

Sans on the other hand was really just copying Death’s behaviour, taking one of Death’s arms in his mouth.

  
  


Death made a noise of complaint, glancing at Sans with amusement, talking through the arm. “nu, i eay yoo!” At this point Sans’ arm had a thick layer of saliva, his clothes getting heavy and wet from the thick sticky liquid.

  
  


Sans cackled mischievously, chomping on Death’s arm with his teeth, though his teeth were nowhere as sharp as Death’s, not doing any harm at all. “nuh’ if i ea’ you firsh!” Sans said through his own mouthful of bone.

  
  


Death let go of Sans’ arm and attacked his face, thrusting his tongue into Sans’ mouth. they rolled until they fell off the bed, and Death rolling them under the bed soon after. This way they had more privacy.

 

Death grinned at his mate, slinking down ever so slowly.

  
  


Sans was gasping at this point, looking down at Death with wide, surprised eyes, face slightly flushed. “someone’s assertive today,” he chuckled out, a hint of surprise still in his voice. 

  
  


“‘ungry.” Death answered, his face right at Sans’ crotch, he nuzzled into it, one socket staring at Sans’ reaction for anything negative as he plays with his pants, lightly tugging at it.

  
  


Sans gasped once more, not having expected the demon to go  _ there. _ Quite literally. He was barely in control as he spread his legs a little, giving Death more room between them.

 

“you… ah… y’ found a snack down there?” He asked, voice suddenly a tad quieter, glancing down at Death with curious excitement.

  
  


“meal.” Death giggled, pulling Sans’ pants down, he bent down to lick at the bone, sucking it sometimes. 

 

Reaper sat up the moment he smelled Death’s scent getting muskier, he frowned at the bed they were under, before tackling Papyrus. Hopefully he can make a lot of noise to cover up his brother and his mate with some wrestling. 

 

“RAAAHH” Reaper roared, but it had a fake tone to it, like a child would use when playing monster.

  
  


Papyrus screeched in surprise as he got tackled, the noise quickly turning into a giggle, though. He was immediately into it, wrestling with the much bigger and stronger demon, roaring back at him, not even bothering to ask himself where Sans and Death were.

 

And Sans, well, Sans was pretty into it too. He knew Reaper and Papyrus were still around, and even if they were being pretty loud with their wrestling, Sans still tried keeping himself quiet. Which just seemed to make it all the harder for him.

 

He let out quiet moans and whines, grinding ever so slightly against Death. It didn’t take long at all for his magic to start gathering around his pelvis, quickly forming his for attention begging dick.

  
  


Death hummed at the sight, not wasting time and taking the whole ecto cock into his mouth. His gaze never left Sans’, wanting to see every face his mate would make, want to see what kind of faces he  _ can  _ make.

 

He slowly bobbed his head, sometimes sucking the head of the cock when he pulled back, his tongue always pressing to the back of it when the dick was in his mouth.

 

He hummed at the deliciousness of it all, the cock that had pleased him so many times, the cock that belonged to this very skeleton. This was a special dick, one he would cherish, his teeth will not hurt or scratch it, he won’t let it.

  
  


Yea, okay. Sans had a really hard time keeping quiet. As soon as Death took care of his dick, Sans was a mess, groaning and moaning quietly with no end. His head was thrown back, eyes half lid in pleasure.

 

Though he kept trying to look back down, not wanting to miss the sight of his beautiful mate sucking him off. And god, he was so good at it. The way he used his tongue, how careful he was being with his razor sharp teeth.

 

“so good,” Sans groaned quietly, eyes hazy as he looked down at Death in bliss.

  
  


Death smiled at the skeleton, joy in knowing he was doing something right, he hummed in pleasure, letting the vibrations go through to the dick from all sides. He ditched bobbing his head and focused on sending vibrations and sucking on the dick instead, keeping it in his mouth. The head of the cock kept hitting the back of his throat, but he didn’t care, he could taste the pre cum already leaking from the tip, the cum is supposed to go there anyways.

 

His hand started to roam under the dick, to the barely touched balls, his fingers gently squeezed them, making sure the long claws didn’t dig into it and maybe hurt them. But wow, this is where what he was looking for was, it was right here inside these amazing looking balls. Death sucked harder while he squeezed the balls harder, almost like he was trying to squeeze the cum out of his balls and into his dick, into his awaiting mouth.

 

_ d’ere ya go mate, cum fer me, give me somethin’ nice ta drink. _

  
  


Sans’ noises managed to waver from guttural groans to high whines as he shook with the vibrations Death sent through him. He was close already, god was he close, and the way Death was squeezing his balls, sucking even harder around his dick definitely didn’t make Sans last much longer.

 

“ _ fff- _ deathhh,” he whined quietly, thrusting the slightest bit into him. His eyes were closed tight by now, but his mouth was parted, panting heavily, before he let out a long, high whine when he finally came into Death’s throat.

  
  


Death took his chance and devoured Sans’ cock, the head all the way to the back of his throat to catch as much cum as possible, he slurped it up and swallowed all he could until there was nothing left. After licking Sans’ dick cleaned in his mouth, he left the limp dick to flop on Sans’ lap.

 

The demon cooed softly, nuzzling Sans’ side before crawling out from under the bed with a evil giggle. “thank ya!” 

 

Death went straight to Reaper and Papyrus, pouncing on the skeleton while he was on top of his brother.

 

“raaaahhh!” Death giggled, knocking Papyrus off Reaper and pinning him to the floor.

  
  


Sans, meanwhile, was left alone underneath the bed, chest raising and lowering with his heavy panting. It took him a few moments to get off his high and actually realize he had been left alone. But once he did he rolled to his side, letting out a sad whine, missing the closeness of his mate. 


	50. we finally get to meet the rich lady and her dog

Death scoffed at his mate when he heard the whine, quickly getting off of Papyrus, to reach under the bed and grab his mate, then dragging him to the others so he can also wrestle. 

  
  


As soon as Sans realized what Death was doing he quickly reacted, pulling his pants up in record time to hide his dick. “jesus, death-! don’t just-!” He didn’t finish his thought, not wanting to reveal to the others Death had almost dragged him to them with his dick out. 

 

“SANS!!!” Papyrus chirped happily, before pouncing onto Reaper. “YOU CAME TO JOIN US!!!”

 

Well. Guess afterglow cuddling was canceled.

  
  


Death grabbed ahold of Sans and threw him to the other two, jumping after him, both Sans and Death landed on Reaper, with Death landing on top of Sans.

 

“rahh!” Death giggled, getting a “RAAHH!” in return from Reaper, both the demons getting into it.

  
  


Sans’, “gaahh,” was less into it than the demon’s roar, and the excited, “RAAAH!!!” Papyrus returned. But hey, he was in this now, flailing helplessly underneath Death, until Papyrus came up out of nowhere, knocking the two off of Reaper.

  
  


Death yelped, his claws going to cling whatever is close to stay on top, but the only thing close was Sans, so they both went down with not much resistance. 

 

“nuuu!!” Death called, now  _ he  _ was the one flailing helplessly underneath Sans.

 

Reaper roared at Papyrus, grabbing his leg to pull him to the floor.

  
  


Papyrus tried to roar back, though it really was more of a squawk as he was pulled to the floor. He instinctively tried to grab Reaper, dragging him with him, which didn’t exactly make any sense considering Reaper was already on the floor, but he only reached into the empty air anyways. He rolled away instead as soon as he hit the floor, getting ready for the next move.

 

Sans on the other hand quickly moved himself so he was facing Death, pinning him to the ground. He stuck his tongue out at him, not saying anything, but therefore giving him a shiteating grin.

  
  


Death whined under Sans, giving him a half annoyed, half pleading face. “ _ nuuuu _ ! don’ da dis ta yer mate!” But the demon didn’t put much of a fight when on top of his mate, mostly just half hearted struggles.

 

Reaper rolled until he was on top of Papyrus, attacking his face with his large tongue, planning to give Papyrus a mask of saliva. “HA!”

  
  


Gaster came back to the sound of Papyrus’ screeching about his defeat and Sans cackling evilly on top of Death, smooching his face every few cackles. Well. They sure were having fun.

 

“I brought dinner,” he called out anyways once he closed the door behind him. He was already reaching into his bag for the raw meat he got on the market for the demons.

  
  


Death looked over Gaster’s direction the moment he heard his voice. He started to squirm under Sans, whining at him to let him go so he could eat, letting out a bigger sad whine when Reaper past them and went for the meat.

 

He wants meat too! Save him some, please! Brother don’t eat all of it! Mate please get off so I can get food!

  
  


Sans moved off of the demon as soon as he noticed his struggling, though, giving him the space to dash for the food Gaster was already handing out.

  
  


But Reaper was trying to take the bag from him, being a greedy little demon, stuffing his face into it. Death ran and launched himself at Gaster’s chest, making them both crash to the floor. 

 

“food!”

 

“FOOD!”

 

Poor Gaster.

  
  


“No, no!” Gaster huffed, quickly reaching for his staff to create a small wave of magic. Not enough to hurt anyone, but still enough to push the demons off of him. Though with Reaper having been all up on the bag, he managed to tear it open, pieces of meat and bread tumbling down onto the floor.

  
  


Reaper and Death pounced for the meat, ignoring the bread completely. They stuffed as much of the slabs of meat into their mouths, grabbing the rest that was left into their hands before running to hide. Both going for a bed, Reaper going to the one he was on before, and Death to the one he sucked Sans off.

 

Death disappeared under the bed, the only thing that could be seen was his tail wagging, Reaper on the other hand made the bed be lifted up, munching and tearing could soon be heard from both beds.

  
  


“Don’t worry, no need to thank me,” Gaster called after them in a small huff. He picked up the pieces of bread, putting them on a small table for when the others would come. He’d thought they might still have some of the meat, but, well. He  _ had  _ been pretty foolish about thinking so in the first place.

 

“AW, SORRY ABOUT YOUR BAG, DAD,” Papyrus said sadly as he came up to help Gaster pick up the bread.

 

“It’s alright,” the older hummed in reply. “I’ll get a new one while we’re still in town. Though I do wish they could’ve been a bit more careful…”   
  
“shouldn’t’ve magic-ed ‘em away then,” Sans noted, only getting a huff of annoyance back in reply.

  
  


The door opened softly, Aster ushering in a unreadable looking Grillby and a annoying angry Hearth, closing the door after him. 

 

“Now I expect you both to understand why I’m asking you of this, yes?” Aster question, sounding like he just explained something long and probably interrupted many times from said flames.

 

“Fine…” Hearth grinded out, glaring at his brother one last time before heading to a bed with no demons near.

  
  


Grillby wasn’t looking at Hearth at all, or anyone for that matter. He had his arms crossed defensively, but was staring down to the floor guiltily. “...Okay,” was all the flame responded to Aster, before heading to where he left his bags, pretending to be busy.

 

Sans watched after him a bit confused, before glancing to the other elemental. Wow. He sure had missed something between those two, hadn’t he. Welp, wasn’t his problem.

 

“Have you filled them in?” Gaster asked as he headed to Aster, his voice lowered for the others not to listen in.

  
  


“Yes, it took awhile to find them, and more for them to stop arguing and denying the plan. But it all worked out, they will leave both Sans and Death alone for now on.” Aster nodded, satisfied. 

 

He watched Death’s head poke out from under the bed to see what’s going on, Aster smiled and waved at the demon warmly. The demon’s mouth stretched to a wide grin, before crawling out to go to his father’s feat, purring at him.

 

Reaper caught wind to their father returning too, and also crawled over to his feet, purring while they rubbed themselves on his legs, like a cat.

 

“O-oh! Did you miss me? I’m sorry, I’m right here now, come here~” He said sweetly, grabbing onto Death to place him on his lap when he squatted down, leaning his weight onto Reaper while he put a arm around his older son. Aster hugged them close to his chest, his smile wide and full of joy.

 

“My babies…”

 

The demons purred louder, their wings and body going to enelope Aster in a nice demon hug, which is more of a cocoon for Aster but he didn’t complain.

 

Papyrus ‘DAAAAWW’ed loudly as he watched the demons cuddle up to their father. They sure seemed to be in a good mood today! They shouldn’t be wasting a day like that by staying in an Inn all day!

 

“DAD, CAN WE GO OUTSIDE???” Papyrus chirped to Gaster, eyes wide and hopeful.

 

Gaster, however, seemed less excited about that idea. “...Don’t worry, we already got everything we need from the market. We just need to wait for the carriage to be done.” And hide the demons from public eye as much as they could.

 

“I KNOW!” Papyrus replied, clueless to his father’s avoidance. “BUT I WANT TO SEE THE TOWN SOME MORE!!! REAPER AND DEATH BARELY SAW IT AT ALL!”

 

“tha’s true,” Sans noted with a small hum.   
  
“...I don’t know,” Gaster mused uncomfortably. He glanced towards the demons, towards the sorcerer cocooned by them. “...What do you think?”

  
  


“My babies are adorable!” Aster squealed, unhelpful, like he didn’t hear or pay attention to his surroundings.

  
  


Gaster quirked a brow at Aster, letting out a small sigh. He… didn’t seem like someone that should be allowed making critical decisions. Which meant the choice was left on him alone.

 

“I don’t think that is a good idea,” he decided finally, Papyrus excitement deflating almost immediately. “We shouldn’t provoke conflicts more than we have to, and even keeping the demons here is dangerous enough.”   
  
Sans scoffed. He’d figured his father would say something like that, didn’t mean he liked it.

  
“they’ve been good, y’know,” he noted with a hint of passive aggressiveness in his voice.

 

“I  _ know _ they’ve been good,” Gaster replied, voice tense. “But they’re  _ still _ demons. And people might  _ still _ react badly to just… seeing them.”   
  
  


“My babies are beautiful!” Aster argued, offended, only hearing the last part. Death and Reaper looked up, curious as to what made his father sound like that. They moved to the side once Aster moved to stand, Reaper going to Papyrus now that his father wasn’t going back to cuddling, leaning into Papyrus until the smaller skeleton couldn’t handle his weight no more and fell, making the demon fall after him, now Papyrus laid on the floor with a giant demon cuddling his side.

 

While Death ran and jumped on top of Sans, like a child would when running up to a bed and throwing themselves onto it, pushing his head under Sans’ shirt and looking at Sans threw the collar, funny enough, his horns prevented his head from going under, so it only bunched up where his horns began. Death looked up at Sans with only half his face visible through the collar, smiling and sticking his tongue out at his mate.

  
  


Gaster watched his sons as Sans grinned cheekily at Death. He pulled up the collar of his shirt, over his own head so they were both hidden underneath the fabric, Sans sticking his tongue out right back at him.

 

Papyrus meanwhile was squealing in delight once he got Reaper back, cuddling up to him and petting the back of his skull. He immediately began chattering a myriad of things to the demon, from how good he was to trying to make plans to convince Gaster of letting them go after all. Gaster wasn’t even sure if the demon was listening to anything Papyrus was saying to him while petting over his horns.

 

“...I know they are,” Gaster finally replied to the sorcerer. “But I’m still worried about the towns people’s response.”

  
  


“They’re fine.” Aster waved, “See, they are behaving and are sticking to our side the whole time we were out. As long as they act like before, they would be fine.”

 

He looked at his two boys, smiling brightly, “Boys, how do you feel on going outside!?” He cheered, getting Death’s and Reaper’s attention. Reaper looked up with bright sparkling eyes, while Death stopped assaulting Sans’ face with kisses and licks to stick his head out of his shirt, ready to bounce around in excitement. 

  
  


Well. Looks like Gaster’s decision was about to be completely ignored. He’d expected something like that, though. They all seemed too enamoured by the demons to consider how others might still react.

 

But oh well. It was better if he just went along, at least trying to make sure everything’ll work out fine.

 

“SO WE’RE GOING AFTER ALL???” Papyrus asked happily, clinging to the demon’s neck. Sans meanwhile was putting his shirt on properly again, before watching his excited mate with a bright grin.

  
  


“Yes we are! Let’s go!” Aster cheered, already marching to the door, his smile growing when he heard hurried demon claws scrambling to follow him.

 

“You too Hearth and Grillby, we aren’t leaving you alone!” Hearth sighed at the statement, getting up and getting a piece of bread while he headed out.

  
  


Sans followed the elemental’s example, taking a piece of bread before heading after the others. Papyrus was still clinging to Reaper, having climbed on the demon’s back at some point.

 

Grillby and Gaster were the last to head out, Gaster having waited for Grillby. He glanced at the elemental curiously. He’s heard that Hearth had gone missing during the night, the reason why Grillby had been gone too in the morning.

 

“Has anything happened to you or your brother?” He asked the elemental slightly concerned. He was sure they would fill them in if Hearth had been ambushed or something like that, but… he still wanted to make sure.

 

Grillby seemed surprised at the question, but he shook his head no. “We’re good,” he replied, words quiet and quick. And not very confident. But Gaster decided not to push it, instead giving Grillby a nod, before quickening his pace a bit to catch up with the others. 

 

Grillby still hung back, knowing he wasn’t allowed too close to Death or Sans, but also not wanting to be right next to Hearth. He decided to keep some distance between himself and the group.

  
  


They traveled around the market, to not be around  _ a lot  _ of people, only using the less used routes. They passed a park, where little kids tried to pet the demons, while the demons themselves ran away like little hands were their nightmares. The parents were about the same, grabbing their kids and running the opposite way.

  
  


“yea, run away ya  _ racists! _ ” Sans called after the moms, still annoyed at their reaction. But he got whacked slightly at the back of his skull, getting stared down by an unamused Gaster.

 

“Don’t be rude, Sans, you’re not making us any friends this way,” he chided, to which Sans just rolled his eyes.

 

He turned away from Gaster to head to Death instead, sticking close to him. “we’re too good for ‘em anyways,” he muttered under his breath.

  
  


Death looked up, giving Sans a thoughtful look before licking his hand.

 

They continued on, entering a clearing where older overly groomed people showed off their overly groomed dogs, there was an announcer telling the next challenge to the crowd, his smile wide and fake.

 

Aster scoffed as he watched the animals dressed in uncomfortable stupid clothes. “Poor things.”

  
  


Sans, however was watching the prize money rather. It was presented on a small pedestal together with a fancy pocal and some medals. 

 

“y’know…,” Sans mused, his mind already plotting something bad. “‘m sure death an’ reaper could pass for the contest…” Except  _ they _ were smart enough to understand language and know what they wanted from them. It’d be an easy win…

 

“SANS, THEY’RE NOT DOGS!!!” Papyrus screeched offended, to which Sans raised his hands in a placating manner.

 

“i know, i know!” He defended himself. “‘m just sayin’! that’s a  _ lotta _ money over there.”   
  
“We’re not short on money, Sans,” Gaster chimed in.   
  
“we ain’t  _ big _ on it either.”

  
  


Death gave Sans a dirty look, his sockets narrowed and his mouth formed to a pout. “i won’ be used fer yer greedy evil purposes, snas.” He said with absolute and maybe a hint of insult in his tone. He moved from his spot next to Sans to next to Gaster, glaring at his mate like he offended him.

 

Reaper was unamused, but just looked away than say anything.

  
  


“awww,” Sans hummed disappointed, looking after Death as he left him. “nooo, come back. ‘m sorry!”   
  
“NO, DON’T!” Papyrus told Death quickly. “HE DOESN’T DESERVE YOU!!! HE IS EVIL AND GREEDY.”

 

“am noooot,” Sans whined sadly.

  
  


“eeeevilllllll!” Death cried, hiding behind Gaster while hissing the word slowly at his mate, he looked up at Gaster with a blank face, almost stating. “i ‘ave an abusive mate.”

  
  


Gaster quirked a small smile at Death, hearing his one son cry out apologies while his other kept chiding him. He crouched down to give Death a small pet, looking him into the eye sockets.

 

“You’re tied to him for the rest of your life. Good luck.”

  
  


Death hid his face in Gaster’s robes and let out a long and loud groan.

 

A dog walked up to Reaper sniffing his butt, the demon scrambled away in annoyance and confusion, Aster placing his hands on his son’s shoulders to calm him down.

  
  


Papyrus let out a small, indignant noise once he noticed the dog, taking a good step away from it. Rather not get that mutt’s attention on him.

 

Gaster also noticed the dog, eying it curiously, before giving it, too, a small pet. “What’s this dog doing here?” He asked no one in particular. It was Sans who replied with a small shrug.

 

“probably escaped the doggy show.”

  
  


“Pumpkin no! come back here!” A chubby women speed walked to the group, she was dressed in thick colorful fluffy fabric, she kept snapping her fingers and making kissing sounds with her mouth, trying to gain the dogs attention.

 

She looked at Gaster with a glare, “Leave my pootsie alone!” not noticing her own dog sniffing and trying to get closer to Death, who was leaning away more when the dog moved closer.

  
  


Gaster raised both of his hands away from the dog and stood up slowly. “No need to worry, miss, I was simply trying to figure out who’s dog this was,” he responded calmly. Though there was an edge of anxiety he didn’t show. Rich people like she seemed to be usually had enough power to, well. At least hire others to do their dirty work. And he was worried she might have some dirty work to do if she’d get a whiff of the demons her dog was currently getting a lot of whiffs of.

  
  


“You better, my little baby is a champion, it would be a shame if he got into trouble! Come here baby, come to mommy!” she cooed, patting her knees as she raised her voice a few pitches higher.

 

The dog didn’t bother with her, instead going around Death while the demon was stiff on his fours, watching the dogs movement like a hawk. Death’s sockets widen when the dog got on top of him from the back, humping him from behind.

 

Death yelped, pulling his legs up before kicking out like a horse, making the dog fly three feet. Death ran to Sans, violated and humiliated, while the women ran to her dog, screeching in horror.

 

Aster gasped, everything going to fast, he had to hold on tight to Reaper so the older demon won’t go after the women’s dog, Hearth coming to give him a hand in making sure Reaper stays put.


	51. death is a squishy marshmallow, no matter how much he tries to deny it

Barely a second passed and Sans was already in tears. He had his arms tightly and protectively around Death, but holy shit. Holy shit was he trying hard not to burst out laughing. His body was shaking, small giggles escaping him every other time.

 

“oh no,” he wheezed out, his voice strained and quiet. “are- ‘re you ok…?” He begged, prayed that his voice sounded serious, worried.

  
  


But Death saw through it, looking at Sans betrayed and hurt. He wiggled out of Sans’ grip, hurrying back to Gaster and jumping into his arms, he looked up at Gaster with hope, hope that  _ he  _ won’t laugh at him. The demon whimpered at him with tears in the corner of his sockets, face hot with humiliation, his body curled up around Gaster’s torso and his head resting on his chest.

  
  


Gaster looked down at Death with wide eyes, holding the small demon close. “It’s okay now, don’t worry,” he cooed, gently petting over the demon’s back. “We’re not letting it close to you again.” He was glaring past the demon, though, to Sans, who was already getting an earful from a very angry Papyrus.

 

Grillby stood by the side, tense and anxious. He wanted to get to Death, ask if he was okay. But he knew he wasn’t supposed to. But he had to do _ something. _ So after a small delay of some seconds he headed after the lady and her dog, glaring at the woman.

 

“Please keep your dog better in check next time,” he said angrily.

  
  


The women gasp in offence, “My poopieskins is the best behaving dog on this whole planet, your  _ mutt  _ must have done something to my poor baby!” She held the dog close to her chest, but the dog himself looked fine, panting lightly with a wagging tail as it stared at Death.

 

The demon was looking to the side, away from the dog, the tears still there in his sockets, he glanced at Sans, his eyelights formed and small, but hazy.

  
  


“Your dog assaulted my  _ friend, _ ” Grillby hissed back, looking at the woman like she poisoned his wife, fucked his crops and burnt his water. Death hadn’t done anything to her dog, and even  _ if _ he had, she should’ve simply been more careful for it to  _ not run away _ in the first place.

 

Sans meanwhile was looking back at Death. Papyrus was still chiding him for being so insensitive, but Sans was barely listening anymore, instead trying to let Death know how sorry he was by the desperation in his eyes.

  
  


But Death only screwed his sockets shut and looked away, cuddling into Gaster to get more confort out of him.

 

“Do not blame  _ him _ for something  _ your  _ dog did, your dog was the one that went up to him, your dog was the one who violated him, he didn’t even provoke or  _ do  _ anything to your dog!” Aster yelled, glaring daggers at the women.

 

The lady got up with her dog in her arms, sticking her nose in the air before walking away. There was nothing she could even say to defend herself or her dog.

 

Reaper was right next to Death the second the dog was far away from Death, cooing softly at his brother. Death cooed back, nuzzling his head to Reaper’s, his older brother licking his tears away.

 

Aster ran up to Gaster, scooping Death in his arms and smothering him with love and kisses. “I’m here my child, I’m here.” He let Reaper follow him, keeping both the demons close as he directed them back towards the inn. “I think that’s enough.”

  
  


Gaster agreed easily, following the others to the inn. There was a part of him that wanted to tell Sans how disappointed he was in him, but he could tell Sans already knew. Papyrus was about just as upset with him, hurrying to catch up with Aster to ask if Death was okay, leaving Sans to himself. The smaller skeleton was hanging back, watching the floor in shame.

 

He hadn’t meant to hurt Death! He hadn’t meant to  _ laugh _ to begin with, but there was just something about someone getting humped by a  _ dog _ that made it incredibly hilarious. Heck, he was sure Death would’ve laughed if  _ Sans _ would’ve gotten humped.

 

Still… laughing in that situation must’ve really hurt Death, and Sans knew he had messed up.  _ Again. _

  
  


By the time they made it back to the inn, Death calmed down enough to not need to being clinging to someone, but his face was still blue with embarrassment. He went to the bed he slept in before, going under the bed, clicking to Reaper that he would like to be alone. Reaper obayed, giving Death a little lick and left him alone, so Death could calm down by himself.

 

Reaper shooed Aster from going to check Death at times, reassuring that he was okay, just needed to be alone.

 

Death just ended up sulking and glaring at the bottom of the bed, where the wood was supporting the bed.

  
  


While they all wanted to make sure Death was okay, Gaster, Papyrus and Grillby both decided to give him his space. If Aster wasn’t supposed to check on him, they were sure they weren’t supposed to either.

 

And oh boy, Grillby wasn’t even  _ allowed _ to anymore.

 

Sans was the only one who  _ didn’t _ seem to catch up on all that, instead already going up to the bed and crouching down to peek at Death.

 

“...hey,” he said quietly.

  
  


The demon whipped his head to the side to look at the monster, but his face quickly screwed into one of scorn and hurt. He rolled over so his back was to Sans, huffing with attitude, but it held a soft, almost to quiet whimper to it. 

  
  


Sans blinked, not surprised, but hurt. “i-... ‘m sorry, death,” he muttered out, his voice little and apologetic. “i didn’ mean to hurt you…” 

 

He hated seeing Death like this. He hated knowing  _ he’s _ hurt Death like this. He just wanted to go back in time and punch himself in the face.

  
  


Death made a small complaining noise, almost like a whine. “ya laughed a’ me!” he countered, a big frown on his face, but Sans couldn’t see it, Death was curling up on himself.

  
  


“i didn’-”  _ mean to, _ was what Sans wanted to say. But at that moment he really didn’t seem to be bothered enough to  _ not _ laugh, so did he  _ really _ not mean to? He simply didn’t know it’d be that bad in that moment.

 

“...i know,” he said instead. “‘m sorry, death, i shouldn’ ‘ave…”

  
  


Death looked up at Sans, peeking at him through a small hole his wings couldn’t cover. His eyelights were gone again, but the hollow sockets still looked sad. “why ya did it…?” He asked, voice quiet and soft.

  
  


“i just… it seemed funny at the moment,” Sans admitted, the words making him feel even worse. But what else was he supposed to say? It  _ was _ what happened. “just… a dog humpin’ a person, i guess. i didn’  _ expect _ it, it seemed then…”

  
  


Death’s expression locked up again, turning back around so his back was to Sans again, not pleased with the answer. “hmph, go get ‘ump by a dog, see if it’ still funny…” He said dismissively, already done with Sans.

  
  


“‘m  _ sorry, _ ” Sans whined out again, his voice desperate and pathetic. He tried scooting a little closer to Death, so he was under the bed with him, close enough to touch him if he’d reach out. “i didn’t think ‘t would hurt you… ‘m stupid and insensitive, i shouldn’t ‘ave laughed.”

  
  


Death huffed, rolling over to face Sans, due to Sans getting under the bed too, Death ended up pressing himself right into Sans. Death flinched at the sudden closeness, but didn’t move away, instead he rested his head against Sans’ forehead.

 

“yer a bad mate, ‘ll punish ya later.” Death grumbled.

  
  


Sans leaned into the touch slightly, still feeling bad about what happened, but so relieved that Death wasn’t backing off. He moved his arms around the demon hesitantly, gentle enough for Death to move away or shake him off if he wanted to.

 

“...i am. ‘m so sorry,” he muttered again quietly. “i deserve it.”

  
  


“we ‘lone, yer punishment start. ya better please  _ me  _ really good then.” Death grumbled, pushing his body flush against Sans’, so their whole bodies were touching each other, just so Sans can figure out what Death meant,  _ who  _ he has to put his full attention to, Sans will get his release after his punishment…

  
  


Sans sucked in a sharp breath once he realized what Death wanted, his hold on him tightening a little and the space around his crotch area as well… He hadn’t exactly expected that.

 

“ _ ok, _ ” Sans breathed out, voice hushed and quiet, close to his mate. “‘ll make you feel so good. spoil you…” He kissed along Death’s jawline lovingly as he said his words, already impatient for the punishment to actually happen.

  
  


Death nodded in approval, “ya be’der, er ‘m not fergivin’ ya.” Death huffed out, but he still returned the kisses, even starting to giggle when Sans started to kiss him all over.

  
  


Oh, he didn’t have to worry about that, Sans thought to himself. He was going to make sure to make up for his mess-ups. 

 

He smiled warmly as he nuzzled into Death, loving the giggles he got out of him. “i love ya,” he hummed out quietly. “‘m glad y’re my mate.”

  
  


Death “‘nd ‘m glad yer mine.” purred out, tail wagging under him. “love ya more!”

 

-

 

The carriage was finally finished, Aster paid the man and sat back into the bench inside the carriage, sighing in bliss. He noticed Death forgave Sans, the demon sleeping on Sans’ lap happily. He was proud of his son, starting to forgive more easily, with his background, it was a miracle he would, on second thought, it might be just because Sans was his mate…

 

They all packed inside the carriage and finally headed off.

  
  


Gaster was in front, leading the horses the quickest way out of town. He was glad to finally not be around prying eyes all the time, anxious that one would attack the demons. Though… it had also been kind of refreshing being in town, he had to admit. It had been interesting to see the demons act around people. It was still nice to not have to worry anymore, though.

 

And Grillby agreed with that greatly. Especially now that he wasn’t allowed to be too close to Death anymore. He had been worried  _ something _ would happen and - of  _ course _ he wouldn’t refuse to step in simply because Aster told him to back off. But he was scared he might  _ hesitate. _ Hesitate for a second that would end up causing damage.

 

He was sitting in the carriage on the opposite bench as the one Sans and Death were on. Papyrus was on the ground with Reaper, the demon being too big to fit onto the bench comfortably, and Papyrus not wanting him to be the only one on the floor. 

 

They’ve been going for a few comfortable hours, planning a little where they should go next, before the carriage stopped. 

 

“It’s getting late,” Gaster called back from the front of the carriage. “We should put up camp here and sleep some.”

  
  


They have been in the carriage for some time, have they? Aster nodded, looking at the two flames, “Will you set us a fire for a quick dinner?”

 

Hearth nodded, quickly passing Grillby and heading out the carriage, walking around to gather some wood.

 

Death hummed softly, walking out the carriage after his brother, who left to sniff out some food.

  
  


Grillby was searching for some rocks for their campfire, already setting it up once his brother brought the wood. He opened his mouth to say something,  _ anything, _ if just a, ‘thank you,’ but in the end nothing came out.

 

Sans, too, left the carriage, being the last one to. Papyrus had immediately followed Reaper, though stayed back once he realized they seemed to be searching for prey. Sans joined him, the two sitting around the campfire, while Gaster got some bread and meat for everyone.

  
  


Aster sat with them, after a few seconds of silence he glanced to Sans. “I see my son has forgiven you?” He watched his son disappear into the trees, clicking at each other in their unknown language.

  
  


Sans looked up at Aster surprised, but gave him a hesitant nod. “yea, i think so.” At least he said he would once a certain punishment had happened, but like hell would Sans bring that up to  _ Aster. _

  
  


“Hmmm, he is becoming very forgiving, it’s a little surprising due to his history, but it is a pleasant surprise nevertheless.” Aster mused,looking at Sans with a hint of… something? There was something in his gaze, suggesting maybe?

 

Hearth passed them with his morning star, not saying a word as he disappeared into the trees, alone.

  
  


Well, now that Sans was thinking about it, Death was a lot more forgiving. He wouldn’t talk to him for days last time he was mad at him.    
  
“maybe ‘e’s trustin’ us more,” Sans suggested a bit clueless though. He was honestly just glad Death wasn’t as angry as him anymore. He wasn’t going to question it too much.

 

“I THINK THEY’VE ALWAYS BEEN FORGIVING,” Papyrus chimed in. “WE’VE JUST NEVER HAD A REASON TO BE FORGIVEN! AT LEAST NOT A LOT” And he said it with so much optimism, like he hadn’t just practically told them they’d been a pack of jerks to the demons before when they broke their trust. But hey. At least he was being positive.

  
  


“Oof, that’s a little harsh.” Aster muttered. “To be fair, they are demons, their instincts and…. choices do make it hard to be kind yet safe. Them and their…. killing habits. You must remember they haven’t had much monster or human contact after their own village. It would make sense that they just don’t  _ want  _ to trust, we can’t put all the blame on us.” Aster mused, looking where his children snuck off too.

 

Hmm, I wonder how it’s like…. in  _ their  _ position…

  
  


“I SUPPOSE SO…” Papyrus muttered thoughtfully. “THEY SEEMED PRETTY REASONABLE, THOUGH, WHEN WE ASKED THEM TO STAY WITH US… AND IT WAS RIGHT AFTER WE HAD DEATH CAPTIVE.”

 

“can we… not talk about this…” Sans muttered out, pulling his legs close in his sitting position. He wasn’t exactly proud of how their story together started, and he wished, so badly, he could  _ fix _ it. Could go back and  _ stop _ himself.

 

But he knew there was nothing he could do. It happened, it was over, and yea. Death might’ve forgiven him. But it still was… bad.

  
  


Death and Reaper came back not after Sans saying that, both demons sitting down with the group and digging into the deer they caught, not bothering with sharing, they know the flames got the others covered.

 

“Hello my children.” Aster cooed, Death made a noise of acknowledgement while Reaper cooed back at Aster. “How was your hunt?”

 

Death simply ignored, shoving his face into the stomach of the dead deer, coming out with the lower intestines. Reaper hummed in reply, at least he was giving responses. Aster also noticed Reaper liked to stay closer to Papyrus, Death wasn’t a shocker with staying at Sans’ feet.

  
  


Though sometimes it was Sans staying at Death’s feet. Like right now, now that Death was buried inside a deer, Sans didn’t exactly want to cling to him to much, still wanted to be close though. So he lied on the ground close to Death’s hind legs, one hand reaching up to idly pla with the long tail, feel over the vertebrae.

  
  


Death never minded, even played with Sans’ hand while he ate, like he was teasing him. Playing catch the tail, even wrapping the tail around Sans’ waist or leg when Death wanted to feel him, know he is close, some sort of comfort.

  
  


Hearth returned with a deer of his own, and just started preparing it to be cooked, when a snap of a twig made him look to the trees, alert.

  
  


Grillby heard the noise as well, looking up startled. He knew it would probably be nothing, no one else seemed worried and they  _ were _ in a forest full of wild animals, though…

 

He squinted his eyes looking into the darkness of the forest, hands readied on his blades. Was he seeing… figures?   
  
“...I think someone’s coming,” he said, voice quick and hushed, directed at his brother. 

  
  


The moment Hearth lifted his morning star, groups of men in metal armour jumped out, screaming their war cries. Hearth jumped into action, slamming his weapon hard on knights that came close.

 

Aster gasped, grabbing his staff to blast a spell that made the surrounding men flew back and hit into the trees. His gaze briefly saw his two sons leaving their meals, running randomly and picking men off. Ah, an unpredictable strategy, my smart boys…. 

  
  


Grillby followed suit quickly, fighting off the armored knights. His blades were almost useless on their metal armor, but he still managed to do some decent damage.

 

It was Gaster wanting to pull out the big guns, wanting to give this a quick end. After his sons almost getting hurt during the bandit ambush, he didn’t want to risk anything again, whether he would end up ending lives or not. This was for self defense.

 

But as he lifted his staff to cast a spell, magic crackled at the tip powerfully, dauntingly. Before exploding on Gaster’s spot, causing the warlock to fall to his butt, almost getting trapped by a knight. He managed to roll away in time, using his staff to block of any attacks.

 

There was something in the air, something strong and holy that didn’t mix with their magic. Did they have sorcerers, too? Yes. Yes, he could sense their magic energy if he tried to focus past the uproar of fighting, and yells.

  
“They blocked our magic!” Gaster called over to Sans, seeing his older son bringing Papyrus to safety behind the carriage, before climbing on top of it himself.

 

“got it,” he called back, but his voice was strained and panicked. He had not ‘got it.’   
  
Though blocked magic shouldn’t be the biggest issue on him, Sans’ whole magic deal was usually a thing of accidents and instincts. If he actually wanted to do damage on  _ purpose _ he had to do it his way.

 

He grabbed a few vials from his belt, filled with green liquids to stun whoever got hit by them as he threw them into the crowds, aiming not to hit any of his friends.

  
  


Death looked to his left, he felt the air was suffocating, awful, dense. He saw his brother pinned down, and raged filled his vision, he made a sharp turn to knock off the sorcerer on his brother, ready to tear him apart. But something hot and painful hit his side, making him fall to the ground. He barely heard his brother cry out for him before everything turned black…

 

Reaper cried for Death, who was getting chains put in every part of his body that they could, he felt them do the same to him, but he didn’t care, all he cared about was his family.

 

They picked up Death, and Reaper’s whole body felt like it was drowning in ice cold water, his soul was beating like crazy as they ran with his brother, into the trees. Feet appeared in his vision, he looked up to see a smirking sorcerer, pointing his wand at his face. A light filled his vision before everything went black.


	52. the animal i have become

Aster was in front of Gaster and his sons, keeping the knights at bay, Hearth joined in not that long after. Which relieved him only just a little, having someone right there helping him protect the ones defenseless.

  
  


Grillby was close by, too, trying to push the knights farther away from their camp. Gaster was gladly staying behind Aster and Hearth, unable to do a lot to fight them off himself. He used most of his powers to make sure no one could get close to his son, while he was busy trying to mix new, stronger vials, most of his old ones being used by now.

 

But by the end there… didn’t seem to be a need for them anymore. They didn’t notice immediately, but after a while the knights became less and less. The magical presence weakened as the distance got greater, and more and more of them seemed to pick up their wounded and dead and retreat.

 

Grillby wasn’t dropping his blades just yet, panting as his eyes kept following the last few running fighters. But his stance was relaxing a little, before he glanced to the others.

 

“Are we… safe?”

  
  


“They…. retreated?” Aster said, glancing around to see the battlefield, “I think we are.”

 

Hearth let out a sigh of relief, his hold on his morning star didn’t falter, but his shoulders relaxed somewhat.

  
  


Papyrus climbed up the carriage next to Sans once the noises of fighting stopped, looking over everyone with big eyes, curious but also worried and scared. At this point Sans was just lying on his back panting, the vial he had been last working on completely abandoned as soon as he realized they retreated. Gaster was busy looking over his staff, making sure it was undamaged, testing the magic again to see it working better now that the sorcerers were gone.

 

But… something was still off.

 

“WHERE’S… WHERE ARE DEATH AND REAPER???” He asked anxiously.

 

Sans looked up, body tensing as the question fell, and Grillby and Gaster tensed as well.

 

“...what…?”

  
  


Aster looked around, worried. “There not here…” He whispered, he walked to the middle of their ruined camp and put his hands to his mouth. “Death! Reaper! Boys come back, we’re safe!”

  
  


But they weren’t here. They weren’t  _ here  _ and that realization hit Sans like a brick to the face. He rose up, eyes wide and panicked, looking around frantically, like he was searching for them, even though he  _ knew _ they weren’t here, he couldn’t  _ sense _ Death anymore.

 

“no, no, no, no, no-”   
  
“B-BROTHER! I AM SURE THEY ARE FINE,” Papyrus squeaked out worried. “THEY JUST WENT OFF TOO FAR WHILE FIGHTING, THEY’LL BE BACK.”

 

“no, ‘s  _ not _ fine, they’re  _ gone! _ ” Sans snapped back without a delay. He jumped off the carriage, pushing past both Gaster and Grillby and anyone that wanted to help him to follow after where the knights had left.

 

“they took him, they’re gonna hurt him,  _ they took death _ !”   
  
“Fuck,” Grillby cursed under his breath, wasting no time to follow after Sans. He can’t just run off alone like an idiot! A whole  _ army _ went that way just now, they didn’t even  _ know _ if they took the demons!

  
  


“Hey, they took Reaper too! Wait for us, we are coming too!! Gaster the carriage, the carriage!!!” Aster screeched, grabbing Hearth’s arm as he pushed him in with Papyrus, Pushing Gaster at the front when he pushed the others in.

 

“We have to catch those two, now!!!” He yelled.

  
  


“WE- BUT DID THEY REALLY- WHEN!?” Papyrus had a hard time wrapping his mind around Death and Reaper getting _taken._ Them? They were so fierce and fast, _Sans_ only managed it through magic and potions and Death underestimating his brother. But those were _two_ demons! Shouldn’t have one of them at least _noticed?_

 

Gaster, though, quickly nodded, following everyone onto the carriage, before readying the horses. It all made sense suddenly. They weren’t here for  _ them _ , they were here for the demons. No one outside their group knew of him and his son being warlocks, they weren’t blocking the dark magic because of  _ them. _ They were doing it to weaken  _ the demons. _

 

“Quick, get on!” Gaster called out once their carriage caught up to Grillby and Sans.

 

But Sans didn’t stop running, breathing too fast, eyelights too little, hissing, “no, no, no,  _ no, _ ” continuously under his breath. Grillby ended up having to pick him up, getting both of them onto the carriage, while Sans struggled in his hold like he was the next one to be taken away.

 

“ _ Relax! _ ” Grillby hissed at him tense. “Sans, we’ll  _ find them _ ! Relax!” But when Sans looked at him his eyes were big and scared. So, so scared it was almost painful to look at.

  
  


Aster was at the front with Gaster, barely keeping himself from full blown hyperventing, his staff was shaking in his hand, the spell he was trying to cast fizzling out like his concentration. He was trying to get a lead, see where Death and Reaper were, he got stuff that belonged to them, their scent, he could do it! But his mind was buzzing with all these what if’s and all these situations where things…. bad things…. happen to his boys.

  
  


Though it was hard to, Gaster could figure out what Aster was trying to do. He put a hand gently on the other’s shoulder, looking at him from the side.

  
“Relax,” he told him softly. “We’ll get them back. You’re one of the most powerful sorcerers I know and I am the Great Sorcerer of the south. Just… focus. We need that lead, Aster…”

  
  


Aster took deep breaths, but it wasn’t much, tears were in his sockets, but his staff shown brighter, before leading the way for him. “They went west, to confuse us, go that way, that way.” He pointed to the right, towards west.

  
  


Gaster nodded, not doubting Aster for a second. He turned the horses towards the reaction he pointed at, letting them go as fast as he could.

 

Sans was still being held by Grillby, the elemental deciding he still seemed to frightened to be let off just yet, though he was calmer than before.  _ Was _ , until he noticed the carriage turning away from the path the knights had left to.

 

“wha- what’re they-!?” He was struggling, wiggling, kicking out to get out of Grillby’s hold, only for the flame to hold on even tighter.

 

“DAD AND ASTER ARE LEADING THE HORSES!” Papyrus reminded his brother quickly. “DO NOT WORRY!!! I AM SURE THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!”

  
  


“Didn’t your dad have a spell to track the demons? When we were hunting them that one time?” Hearth tried to remind Sans, he looked through the little window to see Aster was doing just that, so he knew he wasn’t wrong.

 

“They could be following Death and Reaper directly!”

  
  


Sans didn’t argue, but he didn’t calm down either. He was struggling, clawing around Grillby’s arms to get him off. But it was nothing to once Sans finally  _ sensed _ Death.

 

Once they got closer, once he could feel him, smell him,  _ sense _ him. He didn’t have the  _ time _ to be struggling and wiggling in Grillby’s hold, he needed to get to his  _ mate. _

 

Dark magic coated his arms, ending in sharp claws. He didn’t even  _ need _ to scratch Grillby with them for the elemental to already pull back, hissing in pain as the offensive magic seeped into his arms.

 

“SANS!” Papyrus called after his brother startled, but Sans wasn’t listening anymore, dashing out of the carriage faster than he ever had. He cut one of the horses off the carriage, jumping on it to race after  _ them. _

 

They had a carriage for themselves. Strong and fancy, rich. With the doors breaking apart so nicely under his claws once Sans jumped off the horse.

  
  


The carriage was big, with four tall sorcerers inside. One was standing in shock, looking at Sans, while the other three had been kicking and beating the two demons on the floor, chained to the wall. Reaper barely had his sockets opened, his whole body around Death protectively, yet it was not enough to cover Death completely from the human and monster sorcerer’s attacks.

 

Both demons were covered in bruises, more on Reaper than on Death. Death himself was still out cold, with Reaper barely keeping a hold on him, only able to lay over him to cover him from anymore hurt.

 

“Boy, you have no idea who you are dealing with!” One of the sorcerer’s spat, glaring at Sans with venom in his voice and stare.

  
  


Sans wasn’t even listening, though, growling at the sorcerers in pure rage. “ _ you took my mate! _ ”

 

He couldn’t think straight. Couldn’t  _ think _ at all. All he knew was that his mate was  _ there _ , hurt and unconscious and  _ those sorcerers _ were hurting him. 

 

His magic was going crazy at this point, growing around his arms, making them seem bigger than they were, only stopping where the arms reached his shoulders, encasing them like dark flames. He was jumping for the sorcerer closest to the demons, absently sensing the other sorcerers  _ react _ behind him, but he didn’t  _ care. _

 

He rammed his dominant hand into the sorcerers chest like it was nothing, like it provided no resistance. Like cutting with a hot knife into butter, feeling the monster turn to dust around him within seconds.

 

They were casting spells at Sans, magic flaring around him brightly and painfully. It was blinding and searing and clearly meant to at least stun Sans. But he was running on pure adrenaline, barely feeling  _ anything _ except his panic and rage and he leaped onto the next sorcerer, clawing him open, his dark magic eating apart the human’s flesh from the opened wound. But even before it could do enough damage to leave them deformed past recognition, they fell onto the next sorcerer, whatever spell they were preparing exploding between them, in a way that was painfully ironically familiar to Sans.

 

He turned to the last one left, his bones sprinkled in blood and dust, his eyes filled rage. He reached out for them, barely seeing them prepare their own attack, before a large, dark spike rose out of the ground, through the carriage and impaling the sorcerer completely. It worked double in stopping the carriage as well.

  
  


Reaper gasped softly at the abrupt stop, holding as tightly as he could to his brother, pulling his whole body onto Death, to finally cover him, protected under his own body. Reaper watched with tired sockets, Sans’ movements, his rage, there was something going on with him…. something….. wrong.

  
  


Something wrong and something  _ painful. _

 

There were a few moments, a few confusing moments where Sans didn’t quite register that they were  _ gone,  _ that the sorcerers were all dead, and he was glancing around panicked and helpless, needing to  _ fight _ , but not knowing  _ who _ to fight. That thought, that panic didn’t just get interrupted. It got broken, torn apart, split by a painful ache all over his body. His adrenaline still hadn’t left, but the pain was breaking through, bringing Sans to let out a loud, tortured scream.

 

He was on the ground, panicked and  _ horrified _ as he felt his own body deform. His legs bending, his metatarsals changing shape, feet turning into split, goat-like hooves. There were limbs sprouting out of his shoulder blades, a second pair of arms but longer, thinner. Two of the finger bones grew out of their size, giving the chance for magic to grow leathery, dark wings between them. The remaining fingers formed thick claws at the joint of the wing.

 

And then there was his skull. His already cracked skull feeling like someone dug his fingers into the fine cracks and was tearing the two sides apart. There were horns growing out of it, one perfectly at the top end of his crack, looking like it sprouted out of there. Sharp at the tip, going upward with a small curve.

 

Sans whole body was screaming in pain, _ Sans  _ was screaming in pain. But as soon as he could feel himself be able to move again, more than flail around panicked, it was like none of that mattered. He got up quickly and determined, with only one goal in mind.

 

_ His mate. _

 

He didn’t have to think for a second to know where he was, pushing past Reaper roughly to get to Death. He used his clawed wings as front legs, picking the smaller demon up with his arms, before running out of the carriage quick, like a startled squirrel, tearing the piece of wall Death was chained to with them. 

 

He didn’t stop until he was deeper into the forest, placing Death onto the ground gently. His wings were encasing them both, shielding them from anyone else, while Sans was examining his mate for injuries, licking over his face carefully. He was making small noises, a purr, but it was worried and scared.

  
  


It took Death a bit, but he started to come around, cracking his sockets open and whimpering in pain, his vision was blurry.

 

‘br…...o?’

  
  


Sans didn’t respond, purring loudly and happily instead. He kept licking over Death’s face, his hands wandering over the other demon’s body, trying to find wounds or bruises for his magic to heal.

 

‘you ‘k?’ He asked, but his voice was little and hoarse from his own screaming, painful to his throat.

  
  


Death opened his sockets wider, now focusing more on the face in front of him. He gasped, leaning back to look at the face clearer, his sockets wide as plates. ‘wha….? ya….?’ Death clicked breathless, confused.

 

‘snas….?’ Death whispered, unsure and almost afraid of the answer.

  
  


Sans chirped happily, nuzzling his face closer to Death’s. He lowered his body so he was lying completely on top of him, wings moving closer to them as well.

 

He wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. His head felt weird. Felt fuzzy. Not like he didn’t _remember_ anything. But like there was nothing _to_ remember but _Death_ and keeping Death _safe,_ _protecting_ him.

 

‘y’re safe now,’ he purred out.

  
  


‘oh, snans….’ Death cooed, wrapping his arms around Sans’ head, giving him some soft licks, his tail went around one of Sans’ legs, holding it securely. 

  
  


Sans clicked back happily, not saying anything, but sharing his happiness. How glad he was to have Death here. To have him safe now.

 

He was cuddling into him happy and comfortably, like nothing else in the world mattered. His body still screamed and complained in pain. Everything felt odd and off and not right. But he didn’t care.

  
Death was here. Death was  _ safe. _ He loved Death. He wanted him safe. That’s all he needed.

  
  


‘how ya get me ‘nd my bra’der out?’ Death muttered, nuzzling into Sans’ neck, looking behind him or anywhere else he could see with half his face in his mate’s neck. But he couldn’t see anyone, or sense anyone else now that he thought about it. It sent a sinking feeling not being able to sense his brother close.

  
  


Sans was having a hard time remembering. Realizing what Death was asking about. What had happened, what was going on.

 

‘k...killed e’ryone bad,’ he uttered out eventually. ‘got you outta there. y’re safe.’ He emphasized the last part with a loud, rumbling purr, vibrating through both of them, his smile happy and proud.

  
  


‘’nd my bro’der!?’ Death almost screeched, his body going rigid when Sans didn’t say anything about saving his brother, only him. ‘ _ ’nd my bro’der, where is my bro’der!? _ ya d-didn’ leave em didn’ ya?!?’ Death almost sounded like he was going to panic, cry in agony.

  
  


Sans was looking down at Death startled and confused. ‘n...no, y’re safe,’ he chirped helplessly, hands gently stroking over Death’s face to calm him down. Why was he suddenly so distressed? He was safe! Sans saved him! Who cares if someone got left behind, they had each other, their mates, they were  _ safe! _

  
  


‘ _ ya left my bro’der!  _ my  _ family _ !!! da one dat was with me fer my ‘hole life!?!? da demon dat was with me!?’ Death was forming it like a question, like he was trying to make Sans recall his dear brother.

 

But he decided waiting for Sans to see the importance of this doesn’t matter, right now his brother was in danger. He pushed Sans off in a hurry, he tried to flap his wings to get back, but one of his wings hurt when he tried to put force on it. So he went by foot, but he was limping heavily. Tears started to form at the corner of his sockets, he powered through the pain and went as fast as he could back to where he sensed the violence, knowing his brother was in the middle of it.

 

‘bro’der!’ Death cried, almost to tears, ‘ my bro’der!!!!’

  
  


Sans was running after Death immediately, barely taking any time to catch up to him. He picked him up in his arms quickly, holding Death close and staring down at him confused but angry. Scolding.

 

‘y’re hurt,’ he told him, his voice sounding like he was talking to a misbehaving child. Not because he thought of Death as one, but because he couldn’t understand why Death would overexert himself like that.

  
  


‘i. don’. care! i want my bro’der! i want em!’ Death cried out, struggling in Sans’ hold, but he figured it was useless if Death was hurt and Sans looked pretty okay. So the smaller demon turned to Sans, his gaze fierce and intense. ‘brin’ my bro’der ta me! save my bro’der er ‘ll  _ never  _ fergiv’ ya fer leavin’ em,  _ never!!!’ _ Death commanded, screeching in rage and fear, the tears finally falling down his cheeks.

 

He was helpless to help his brother, and that he  _ knew  _ his brother was hurt and  _ still  _ in danger was even worse. All this frustration and fear building up until it bolded over out of his sockets.

  
  


Sans let out a long whine, confused and startled. He didn’t know who Death was talking about, what he wanted.  _ Who _ he wanted. But Death was so distressed and it distressed Sans.

 

He held his mate close, still using his wings as front legs as he went back from where they came from. Hesitantly at first, before breaking out in a sprint.

  
  


Death held on as tightly as he could, which isn’t much, but he got quiet now that Sans was doing what he commanded. He looked at the direction they were going, the tears stopped, but he still looked to much on edge, like he was watching a loved one die in front of him.

  
  


Sans kept moving forward, his walk slightly off and uncoordinated once he got faster. His caprine hindlegs not working out well with his wings as forelegs. But he made do somehow, pushing forward until he heard noises.

 

Loud noises. Groans and grunts, the clacking of metal. Noises of fighting.

 

He stopped on his spot, holding tighter onto Death as he looked ahead with wide eyes, hopping from leg to leg nervously.

 

‘’s not safe,’ he urged out, his voice strained and tense.

  
  


‘ye, ‘nd my bro’der is  _ in da middle of it _ .’ Death almost spat out, he wiggled out of Sans’ grip to lean on a tree, getting his bearings before limping to the destruction, claws and teeth bared. ‘but i would go ta hell ‘nd back fer em, so don’ stop me.’

  
  


But Sans would go to hell and back to protect Death, so he quickly leaped forward, wings lifted to block off Death’s path. ‘’s not safe!’ He repeated, stronger this time. ‘’m not lettin’ ya get in danger  _ again! _ ’

  
  


‘i won’ hav’ ta go back if ya got reaper too! ei’der ya go with me er i go ‘lone!’ Death glared at Sans, determination and rage in his hollow sockets. ‘my family is in d’ere, ‘lone ‘nd scared in da middle of it. he rescued me when i was like dat many times, now ‘m doin’ da same fer him if ya like it er not!’


	53. dealing with a loss...

Sans didn’t like this. No, Sans  _ hated _ this. A strong, strong part of him told him,  _ who cares? _ Death being safe was more important than anything else, and if Death wouldn’t understand that, Sans had to teach him the hard way. And he was locking onto Death like that, like he was prey, like Sans was ready to leap at any movement.

 

But Death seemed so distressed. Seemed to care about this _so much._ And it didn’t make _any sense._ _None_ of this made any sense, and thinking about it hurt Sans’ skull, but oddly enough, hurting Death that way was something Sans loathed to do. 

 

He picked Death up again, moving quickly, pulling him close with his teeth before putting his arms around his mate. 

 

‘where?’ He asked hurriedly.

  
  


Death answered his question with another, ‘’ave ya seen a bigger demon with me when ya found me? he looks lots like me, but bigger, he is ‘urt snas, we ‘ave ta hurry!’ the weak and beaten down scent of his brother was heartbreaking, soul shattering, he looked at Sans with a pleading look.

 

  
Sans let out a tense, stressed whine. Had he seen another demon? He remembered seeing  _ someone  _ in that carriage. Someone he hadn’t killed for reasons that escaped him. 

 

He still stalked up to the scene carefully, even if he could tell Death wanted to hurry. Possibly by how he told him to hurry. But there was no way he could, when the air was filled with magic and fear, with the smell of blood and death. 

 

He could see the carriage. He could see inside through the hole he broke into it while escaping with Death.

 

The demon he hadn’t killed was in there, together with two monsters fighting off other people. God damn it. Why couldn’t the carriage just be empty aside from the demon his mate wanted so badly.

 

He rushed over to the carriage, the monsters being with their back to Sans so he went unnoticed. At least until he actually reached the demon, having to figure out a way to get them out of this.

 

He picked their tail up between his teeth clumsily, dragging back to pull them with him, only for the noise to catch the fire monsters startled attention. He turned half ways to look at Sans, eyes wide in shock, letting out a breathless, “...Sans?” Before one of the armored people used his distraction to knock the monster out cold.

 

Sans took this as his cue, running off backwards quickly, holding Death close to his chest and dragging Reaper along by his tail.

  
  


Reaper tried to follow, he was limping really bad and looked like he was going to pass out, but he was following.

 

Death cooed desperately at Reaper, getting tired and happy cooes from Reaper as well. They all went into the tree lines, continuing until the noises of the fight was almost but a distant whisper. Reaper colassped, making his younger brother gasp, scrambling to his side and whimpering softly. Death looked over his body and started to lick at his wounds, cooing softly and giving Reaper small whines while he worked on his body, Reaper can only mumble every so often to reply.

  
  


Sans was watching Death, antsy and anxious from the second he left his hold. Even if he was close, Sans watched him nervously, the claws of his wings scratching over the ground as he let out a long whine.

 

He didn’t know that other demon. He didn’t know how safe they were. He didn’t  _ like _ them. Didn’t like how they got Death into danger. Didn’t like how Death was leaving his side for them.

 

He was lying down on the ground, claws still tense, digging into the earth, and his eyes glaring daggers at the new demon.

  
  


Death ignored Sans until he was sure Reaper was healed, even double checking his body before he left his brother alone to sleep.  _ Then  _ he finally turned to Sans, looking over his body, ‘’re ya ‘urt? da i need ta heal ya too?’ Death cooed softly, sniffing at Sans to smell blood or an infection.

  
  


Rather than replying, Sans lifted one of his wings, scooting over the ground comically until he was at the right position to wrap his wing around Death and pull him close to his side.

 

‘’m good,’ Sans lied, placing his wing around Death like some sort of blanket. Every inch of his body hurt and he had the creeping sensation that something was  _ off _ . But he’d survive. He was too busy not looking at Death and instead pouting ahead to talk about it anyways.

  
  


Even if Sans said he was fine, Death still started to lick Sans’ face, neck and shoulders, mostly for gratitude and love than healing, but the healing factors were still there. ‘ya did really good taday, t’ank ya so much fer savin’ my bro’der. yer da best mate in da world.’ Death cooed softly, humming into the licks he gave his mate. 

 

Death’s tail went around Sans’ waist, pulling him close, while his clawed hands went to grab a shoulder and the other rest on Sans’ chest.

  
  


Sans couldn’t help himself but to stop his pouting, relaxing into the healing magic instead. He turned until he was on his side, facing Death, the wing around him never leaving. Hands wandered over his mates body, letting his own healing magic course through him as his own body began to rumble in a soft purr.

 

‘’t’was dangerous,’ Sans still complained with a huff, though. 

  
  


‘stop complainin’ ya baby.’ Death chuckled, teasingly licking Sans’ nose. ‘ya looked nice savin’ my bra’der’s ass.’ Death giggled while wiggling his bone brows at his mate, rolling until he was on top of Sans, smothering him with kisses and licks, drowning Sans in his love.

  
  


Sans chuckled back, the noise wavy with the vibrations of his purring. He was looking up at Death adoringly, trying to return as many kisses and licks as he could. His wings went up, claws locking by the back of Death’s neck to pull him closer, while his hands were at his mate’s chest.

 

‘i know,’ he chirped back playfully. ‘i always do.’

  
  


Death laughed out loud, smirking down at Sans with half lidded eye lights. ‘ah, ya seem pretty confident? wha ‘appened? first ya turn inta a demon ‘nd now ya got some confidence? who ‘re ya ‘nd wha ya done ta my mate?” Death giggled, giving Sans a loving kiss on the mouth.

  
  


Sans returned the kiss just as lovingly, hands digging into the fabric of Death’s shirt. But he looked up at the demon curiously, confused.

 

‘turn into demon…?’ He repeated, the words ringing in his head oddly. He didn’t remember turning into a demon. Or… not… being demon? Well, that still made the first option correct. He didn’t remember  _ turning _ into a demon.

  
  


‘yea…? yer were a warlock, a dark sorcerer.’ Death muttered, looking at Sans with a confused look as well. ‘how much da ya remember snas?’ his clawed hand went to carres Sans’ cheek softly.

  
  


Sans tried to answer. He opened his mouth to tell him, but no words escaped. How much  _ did _ he remember? 

 

‘i… don’ know…,’ he admitted quietly. ‘y’ were hurt, an’ i… i killed the bad guys. made sure y’ were safe…’ 

  
  


‘hmmm,’ Death hummed, ‘dat’ not a lot. we travel with a group, two flames, yer bra’der and fa’der, ‘nd my bro’der and fa’der. me ‘nd my bro got taken, ya came ta save us. i don’ know ‘ow er why ya turned ta a demon, though.’ Death explained as much as he could. How  _ do  _ you explain all this to your clueless mate?

  
  


Sans looked up at Death with concerned begging eyes, letting out a small whine. He felt like a child stuck at class. Did it matter what happened before? He knew Death had been in danger and he knew Death was safe now, did he really need to know much more?

 

‘goo’night,’ he purred out in an attempt to end this topic. He pulled his wings closer, pulling Death down and close with them.

  
  


Death scoffed at the dismissal, rolling away when a plan formed in his head, he sat up on his hind legs, smirking at the demon. ‘guess we ferget yer punishment too den if yer like dat? ya know, da one where ya please me good and ‘ard ta make up fer wha ya did?’ Death ran his hands down his body at the last part. ‘guess no more punishment since ya don’ remember, er care~’ Death almost sang, shrugging while turning away, his tail up so Sans can see his clothed butt.

  
  


Sans’ eyes widened in wonder, rising on his spot a little to watch him, watch those hands run over his body, watch him move so confidently. He got back onto his feet and wings rushing over to Death, wasting no time to get on top of him in a mounting position. His chest was close to Death’s back, in fact pushing Death down until his front was to the ground.

 

‘i ‘dunno,’ Sans purred close to Death’s skull. ‘’t sounds like a pretty important punishment. wouldn’t wanna misbehave because of that.’

  
  


‘t’was important,’ Death purred, his body shivering in joy and excitement over a more dominant mate on top of him, yes he loved Sans before he turned to a demon, always will, but boy Sans as a demon just feels more… predatory, commanding. Making his privates tickle with need and excitement, pushing his butt towards Sans’ crotch, rubbing it against the pelvis over him. ‘ya were ta please me, ‘nd only me til t’was over, den  _ ya  _ would get yer release  _ only  _ after.’

 

Death turned his head so he was looking at Sans’ face, purring at him while his head nuzzled him. ‘ya would only focus on  _ me, _ yer eyes would be on only  _ me,  _ yer t’oughts are only filled with  _ me _ . cuz ya know ‘m only  _ yers’ _ Death purred the last line nice and low, slow to really drive it into his mate, he even arched his back to press his bum into Sans.

  
  


Oh, Sans liked the sound of that. Liked the sound of that very much, liked the  _ feel _ of it, Death’s butt so close to his crotch. He was already grinding down on it, all but ready to take his punishment. To make Death feel good, make him feel the bliss he deserved, spoiling him, treating him like the center of his world. Because he  _ was. _

 

But there was something keeping him from that. Something that made Sans straighten up from his position. Made him step off Death and in front of him instead. Made him spread his wings to look bigger, the magic forming his wings showing two big, golden eyespots to scare away predators.

  
And hey, it seemed to work, because the group of monsters that had been approaching them suddenly stopped startled. But they didn’t back off. And god, they were a lot, too.

 

Three skeleton monsters, each taller than the next and two fire elementals, one of which looked wounded. Huh, he recognized that one. It was the one he saw getting knocked out.

  
  


‘snas! dat’ da group i was tellin’ ya ‘bout, d’ey’re allies! ya don’ remember but  _ i  _ do, don’ ‘urt dem!’ Death clicked quickly at Sans, grabbing his foot so he couldn’t pounce on the arrivers. 

  
  


Sans turned his head back to Death, letting out a small, confused purr, only to quickly snap it back to the group of monsters when he heard one of them call out, “BROTHER,” loudly. The youngest of the skeleton monsters was running towards them in a startling pace, causing Sans to let out a loud growl, stepping forwards as much as he could with Death holding him back.

 

But it seemed to have been enough for the monster to stop approaching them, and even one of the older ones carefully took their arm, pulling them back. 

 

“He’s… clearly not in the right mind right now,” the older one said, their voice sounding strained and tired.

  
  


Aster went around them, to Reaper, hugging the son he can get close to his chest. He made sure to keep watch with Sans, but Reaper was his main focus, one of his sons he thought he lost, but is right here. Reaper’s sockets fluttered open, focusing on Aster.

 

Aster let out a watery laugh, smiling down at his eldest son. “Hello my child, I’m so happy to see you are safe!” Reaper smiled back, cooing at his father, his head nuzzling into his stomach.

 

Death watched the scene with softened sockets, smiling at his two family members interact. Death looked up at his  _ new  _ family member, cooing softly to get his attention. ‘snas, d’ese ‘re da people ya trust, ya don’ remember, but all d’ese people ‘ere ‘re safe, love us, care fer us. back down, snans, i trust dem.’

 

Sans is very protective, and not remembering the others he once knew is a worse problem than one might think. Sans has no idea who he is baring his teeth to, they are someone he should trust. This was the same way with his own father when he first met him, and the rest of the group eased him and his brother into it. Now he and maybe Reaper can coaxed Sans into understanding, and begin to trust again.

  
  


‘...don’ like it,’ Sans grumbled out, taking a startled step backwards when the older skeleton took a careful step forward. They were looking at Sans like they were searching for something, long and prying, before they finally spoke.

 

“Sans… How much do you remember?”   
  
And Sans recognized the name. Recognized the words, recognize what they meant, even if they weren’t speaking  _ their _ language. But rather than responding he let out a tense whine, glancing back and forth from the skeleton to his mate.

 

‘why’s ‘e askin’ questions? ‘s none a ‘is business!’

  
  


‘dat’ yer fa’der, ‘nd shush, ‘ll handle it.’ Death clicked like he was talking to a child, standing on his feet, his front hands went onto Sans’ back and pushed him down. Both to make Sans back down, be able to see the others without a overprotective mate in the way, and also to tease Sans, but that one is his little secret. 

 

“nothin’, he only knows me, not even my bro’der.” Death called to Gaster, his tail wrapping around one of Sans’ feet to hold him still and to give Sans a sense that he was still right here.

  
  


Sans was sitting on the ground, wings lowered by now, but still spread to his sides as he was letting out a small, consistent, annoyed rumble.

 

“...Nothing?” Gaster repeated, his voice tense. “...At all?” Though… he had expected that. Seeing what happened in the carriage, hearing from Grillby, it was almost easy to figure out Sans had…  _ actually _ turned into a  _ demon. _ And how often  _ did _ demons remember their past life?   
  
“This… this is exactly what I was scared of…” He was pacing by now, one hand over his mouth like he was going to be sick. His eyes were dark and unreadable, but his voice was desperate. “This can’t be  _ real,  _ can’t be- my  _ son… _ !”   
  
“CAN I… COME CLOSER???” Papyrus asked the two demons. He’d been watching his father worried for some moments, but… he had the odd feeling this was something he just had to  _ process. _ Papyrus couldn’t turn Sans back. He could just help them get his trust back.

 

He was crouching down to be closer to Death’s and Sans’ height, reaching one palm out for them. “PET YOU???”

  
  


‘don’ ‘urt em, if ya remember yer past, ya will regret it fer da rest of yer life.’ Death warned, getting off of Sans and leading his head to gently press into the stretched out palm. He purred at Papyrus, giving him a small smile.

  
  


Sans tensed as soon as Death got off of him, absolutely not liking the way this stranger was touching him, the way Death was pressing into this stranger’s hand. He got up quickly, not exactly growling, but rumbling grumpily as he pushed Death back with his own head… only for the offending palm to land on the top of Sans’ skull. Right between his horns, barely adding any weight, but still noticeably, making Sans feel like he was trapped in a net.

 

Papyrus didn’t stop petting, though, just gently moving his hand over Sans’s skull while Sans looked over to Death with huge, startled eyes, silently asking for help.

  
  


Death only gave Sans a thumbs up, looking proud at his mate. ‘doin’ good!’ he called unhelpfully.

 

Hearth walked to Gaster, tapping his shoulder. “So, are we allowed to get close to Sans and Death again, this  _ was  _ what we were trying to avoid when you forbade us, right?”

  
  


Gaster spun around, glaring at Hearth with a furious fire in his eyes. “My son just turned into a  _ demon. _ Forgot  _ everything _ about me, about his life, his  _ family. _ ” Saying it out  _ loud _ was just another thing for Gaster to remind him what  _ happened. _ And his voice shook, eyes wide.

 

It was like Sans was  _ gone. _ Was  _ lost. _ Of course he’ll still love his son, demon or not, will cherish him, cherish his existence. But  _ this _ wasn’t the Sans he knew. Wasn’t the son he knew. The son he knew was  _ gone _ , forever, lost because he failed to keep Sans sane. Because he had acted too late, too little.

  
  


“I’m sorry my friend, I have failed to help you.” Aster said sadly to Gaster. “I never wanted you to go through what I have with my own sons….”

 

Yes he didn’t  _ know  _ his sons before they were demon, but he thought he was doing the right thing, he thought they were safe the whole time, happy in the village. He was wrong, he watched what became of his sons, what he caused, what he couldn’t stop. It’s his fault his own sons were like that, now he had a hand in Gaster’s own son.

 

“I am so sorry…” His voice was thick with guilt, sockets drooping slightly with tiredness and sorrow. “I really am.”

  
  


Gaster glanced back to Aster, his own eyes desperate and sad, almost looking at the other monster like he had a solution. Like he could fix this. Gaster  _ knew _ he couldn’t, but a part of him just… wished.

 

“...It is not of your fault,” he told the other quietly. “...But thank you…” He wasn’t alone. He wasn’t the only one who’s been in this situation. The only one who’s had to watch their child turn into a demon.

 

He turned back to Hearth, still not looking pleased, but less angry. “I don’t think it is a good idea,” he told the elemental, “though if you really have to, go ahead.”   
  
Though it was directed at Hearth, Grillby also quickly caught attention of it. And he didn’t waste a moment to limp over to Death, Sans and Papyrus, sitting down next to the youngest.

 

He was hurt, getting knocked out turned out to be a not so great idea in midst of a battle. But it wasn’t too much for him to handle, and seeing  _ Sans _ having turned into a demon was… definitely a lot more important than a few wounds.

 

“Are you two… okay?” He asked Death and Sans carefully, the latter only eying Grillby carefully. He was lying on the ground by now, still not sure what to think about the hands gently running over his skull and back, but Papyrus seemed certainly delighted.

  
  


Death grunted in reply, laying next to Sans as a support, their sides pressed together and Death’s head laying on Sans’ shoulder. Reaper walked over not long after Aster went to Gaster to comfort him in any way he could. The biggest demon laid next to Death, licking his cheek in greetings, Death cooed in delight and licked his brother in return.

 

‘bra’der! ya feel be’der?’

 

‘YES I DO, I’M JUST GLAD YOUR SAFE.’

 

‘i could say da same, when i ‘eard snas left ya back d’ere, i almost wanted ta claw him raw! but yer fine, snas is fine, we all fine.’ Death answered with a sign of relief.

 

Reaper nodded, resting his head near Death.

  
  


Sans gently bumped Death’s skull with his own, rumbling lowly. ‘jus’ wan’ed you safe,’ he purred out, relaxing next to his mate.

  
  


‘well me ‘nd my bro’der ‘re a ‘hole package, i go where ‘e goes ‘nd ‘e goes where i go, so be nice my mate.’ Death responded with a chuckle, bonking his head back at Sans.

  
  


Grillby was watching curiously, not understanding a word the demons said, though neither really realizing they were  _ talking _ in the first place. He was watching the way Papyrus got to pet Sans, gentle and careful, but with a wide grin.

  
“...Do you… think I could pet him…?” Grillby asked quietly.

  
“TRY IT!!!”

 

And Grillby did, reaching out with his hand to touch the top of Sans’ skull. But the second Sans saw the movement he threw a dirty glare up at Grillby, letting out a quiet, anxious growl, causing Grillby to end up pulling his palm back.

  
  


Death looked between Sans and Grillby, quickly getting Sans’ attention. ‘pay attention ta meeeeeeee!’ Death whined, rubbing his face to Sans’ cheek, his tone needy and cranky. Like a child whining for a toy in a market, and tugging on their parents sleeves to pull them to the vendor stall.

  
  


Sans let out a surprised purr, but obliged quickly. He turned his head to Death, opting between licking and kissing over his mates face, nuzzling into him every once in a while.

 

‘i love you,’ he said, purr heavy in his voice. ‘y’re mine. my mate.’

  
  


‘’nd yer mine, only mine. i love ya too snas.’ Death purred, giving Sans his own licks and kisses. Only when they continued to give each other affection did Death lean in and talk like he was giving Sans a secret mission with classified information, his tone serious. ‘okay, so when everything calms down ‘nd d’ey all ‘sleep, we go ‘nd do yer punishment, got it?’ 

 

Death looked at Sans to see if he heard him, and understood.

  
  


Sans didn’t respond, but let out a low, deep rumble, nuzzling closer to Death to let him know he understood. 


	54. the long awaited punishment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **content warning: sexual content**

“We have to move somewhere safer.” Aster whispered, feeling like now is not the time to talk loudly, feeling it’s rude to when Gaster was clearly mourning.

 

“Yeah, we aren’t to far from where we got them back, we should move.” Hearth agreed.

  
  


Gaster glanced around slowly, like he took a moment to quite figure out what they were talking about. But he nodded after a bit, straightening himself.

 

“...We need to go back to the carriage. Grillby, Hearth, can you go ahead to make sure it’s safe?”

 

“Of course,” Grillby replied with a nod, already getting up from the ground. It didn’t seem like Sans was going to let him touch him any time soon anyways.

  
  


Hearth followed quietly, keeping some distance with his brother as they left.

 

Death watched them go, clicking about being hungry and should probably hunt really soon, Reaper agreed easily.

 

‘HOW LONG HAVE WE GONE WITHOUT EATING?’

 

‘we got taken be’fer we could finish dinner…’ Death whined,

 

‘SHOULD WE GO NOW, OR WHILE WE’RE MOVING?’ Reaper looked to the other demons, only getting a shrug from Death.

  
  


Sans wasn’t any more helpful either. The idea of hunting didn’t strike him attractive at all, and while he could probably eat something, he definitely wasn’t starving. But he knew that if Death went, he’d have to come with him. To protect him. Make sure he was safe.

 

So instead of replying at all, he just rolled to his side, pretending to not be listening.

  
  


Death scoffed and pushed Sans away with his hand on his face, before getting up and shaking his body, to get the dirt off him. He moved towards Aster, who plucked him off the ground and gave him a big hug.

  
  


Sans followed quickly, staying by Aster’s feet as close to Death as he could, watching them nervously.

  
  


“I’m glad your alright!” Aster cried, cradling Death close to his chest, Death whined softly.

 

“food.”

 

“O-oh! Your hungry? Are you going now?” He looked nervous about this all of a sudden.

 

“‘e.” Death confirmed, nodding.

 

“O-okay… You…. will be safe, yes?” Death nodded again, “Good, come back real quick, we have to go soon!”

 

Death cooed softly, before getting put down. His tail went around one of Sans’ hands while he walked towards Reaper, who was stretching, readying for a good run.

 

‘’ow good is yer huntin’?’ Death glanced behind him at his mate, his voice always changing to a different tone when talking to Sans, more softer and caring, affectionate. 

  
  


‘never ‘unted,’ Sans replied with a shrug. ‘...do i gotta?’ He asked it with a tone obvious that he was absolutely not up for it. Like a child asking about chores it has to do.

  
  


Death gave him a once over, to the wings and the hands, Sans was not really built to hunt like them, fly and swipe smaller prey maybe, but hunting no.

 

‘nah, i can get ya food, would ya like dat?’ Death looked at Sans softly, licking his cheek while he pulled him towards Reaper, into the treelines.

  
  


Sans purred happily at the reply, following Death closely. ‘would love it!’ He chirped, almost skipping in his walk a bit, glad he didn’t need to hunt.

 

He still, kind of, wasn’t very excited about having to follow along, but well. You do what you gotta do. And Death wanted to catch him food, he was more than grateful for that.

  
  


Not too long into it, Death and Reaper were laying low, preying on a few elks drinking some water from a pond. Death and Reaper decided to split, go from each direction, Sans stayed behind to watch it from a safe distance.

 

Since Death was the more agile one, he was the one to pounce first, leading them straight to his stronger brother, where they cornered three. When they stopped at the sight of another demon waiting for them ahead, it gave Death enough time to come from behind and slash one of the elks throats, Reaper going for the other. Death’s tail went around the last elk’s neck, squeezing it, slashing it open when the elk struggled.

 

He mostly did it so it wouldn’t have a chance to run away while he and his brother took care of the other ones.

 

Well that was a easy hunt, but sometimes it was that easy, sometimes it wasn’t, this was just their lucky day.

 

Reaper held one in his mouth, while Death packed the other two on his brother’s back. Reaper  _ was  _ the stronger one of them all.

  
  


Sans ran up to Death and Reaper as soon as the elks were dead, licking over his mate’s face, gently licking the blood off. ‘you ok?’ He purred out worried. ‘you ‘urt? that was dangerous…’ The last part was barely more than a squeak. 

  
  


‘not even a scratch~ yer mate is just  _ dat  _ good!’ Death smirked, guiding Sans back with his body to the rest of the group.

 

Reaper was ahead of them, mostly for Death and Sans to watch if the two elks on his back fell, and catch them.

  
  


Sans was following without argue, but he still let out a small, unhappy whine. It wasn’t like he didn’t  _ believe _ Death or disagreed with him. He just kind of wished his mate was just that good at something a little safer. 

 

Couldn’t they just… steal food? When no one was looking? Rather than running into a herd of large, powerful animals.

 

Papyrus welcomed the three back happily, giving Reaper a proud pet on the head. Hearth and Grillby had come back with the carriage by now, currently making sure everything was still there and intact. 

  
  


Death helped give an elk to the group, while Reaper kept one for himself, and the last was given to Death and Sans.

 

They went on the move, and to avoid getting blood in the carriage the demons had to eat on the roof of the carriage while they traveled. The three demons laid on the roof, all eating happily, the others would eat after they stop, since they didn’t want to stay and cook the freshly killed elk.

 

Death tore off another piece of meat from the hip of the elk he was eating, looking at Sans with a suggestive look, bone brows wiggling. ‘gotta get yer energy up fer ta’night~’ he almost purred, his tail wrapping around Sans’.

  
  


Sans purred back, licking over his teeth both to get the blood off of them, but also to show off, suggestively. ‘oh, i will,’ he cooed, nuzzling into his mate with a cocky grin. ‘don’ gotta worry ‘bout it.’ 

 

Though he sure hoped they could get away from this… group before anything happened between them. If Death trusted them and wanted to travel with them that was fine, but Sans wasn’t quite there yet. And he definitely wasn’t there enough to let himself and Death vulnerable around them, even  _ if _ it was night and they should be sleeping…

  
  


‘ya will keep look out as ‘lways bra’der?’ Death asked, getting a annoyed grunt from his brother. Death nodded, pleased. ‘good.’

 

Death wiggled his way under Sans’ wing as they ate, cuddling up to Sans’ side, even when they ate all the meat, Death continued with the bones, looking for the marrow inside.

  
  


Sans gladly kept Death under his wing, purring contently as he kept Death close. He hadn’t eaten half as much of the elk as his mate had, but that was just fine by him. He was lying his head down comfortably, ready to take a small nap before everyone else would go to sleep.

  
  


They traveled a bit longer before finally stopping, finally cooking that elk they brought. Death cooed softly to Reaper when the others went to bed, getting a nod from Reaper. Death grinned, looking at the demon next to him, nudging him awake.

 

‘snas, snas! wake up, punishment time, let’ go.’ Death sang, shaking Sans lightly.

  
  


Sans grumbled quietly, not opening his eyes just yet. But he rolled over, wings and legs stretching so they pushed Death onto the ground. And Sans kept rolling, unable to hide his purr at this point, not stopping until he was on top of Death, looking down at him adoringly.

 

He bent down to lick over Death’s neck, over their mark, humming happily.

  
  


‘not ‘ere! let’ go somewhere more  _ private _ .’ Death purred the last word out, sockets half lidded, he gently got up, dragging Sans further into the tree line. Death didn’t part from Sans, almost like it would physically hurt them if they pulled apart, the smaller demon ran his tongue on Sans’ cheek, neck and shoulder, running his tongue ever so slowly over the mark on Sans’ neck.

  
  


Usually Sans would want to look around where they were, check for dangers or the safest place to be. But this time he was way busy. Busy shivering at the small caressing of Death’s tongue, the sensitivity of his own mark. He followed Death blindly, trusting him, loving him.

  
  


Once they got far enough, Death let them flop on the floor, with him under, he was laying on his back tonight, mostly to give Sans the space he needed to do what he will with him.

 

He usually didn’t like sex on his back, but today he felt extra loving, he trusted Sans, demon or no, he trusted this idiot a lot. So here Death was, ever so trusting to this one demon, laying on his back splayed out for him, with heavy love filled sockets.

  
  


Sans leaned down close, pressing their bodies together as he buried his face in Death’s neck. He was running his own tongue over it, letting it explore the vulnerable bones, digging into the small spaces between the vertebrae. 

 

His hands were both busy traveling over Death’s bones, gently finding their way underneath his shirt to caress the ribs, trailing over the sternum. 

 

God, his mate looked so good like this. Underneath him, willing and taking,  _ vulnerable _ but only for him. For Sans. To do to him as he pleased. To make him feel good. To spoil him.

  
  


Death groaned at the attention, his hands going around to rub at Sans’ back, his fingers lightly going up and down his mate’s new form, getting every curve and bump carved into memory.

 

His body grinded into Sans’, a soft glow forming inside his pants, Death slowly moved his hands to open his clothes, taking them off slowly, teasingly. Death grinned at Sans, pushing his pants down to bring his glowing dick into the open, half hard.

 

‘’re ya ready ta please yer mate?~’ Death purred out, kicking his pants away while he worked on his ruined and dirty coat, opening it up before lifting up the plain shirt under. These were his funeral clothes he wore way back when he was Comic.

  
  


Sans groaned pleased as he watched his oh so lovely mate undress. His hands already ran down from Death’s ribcage to his pelvis, ever so slowly. His fingers traced over the bones carefully, eyes focused, like he was making himself a mental map of Death’s body.

 

‘’course i am,’ he purred back happily, moving one of his hands from the pelvis towards where the magic sprouted his mate’s beautiful, cute cock, running over it gently with a hum.

  
  


Death gasped under the touch, shivering lightly from the gentle touches, his breath was still even, but it was getting slightly heavier the longer Sans played with him. Death’s hands wandered to Sans’ front, starting to undress him as well, hands running softly over exposed bone, kissing or licking Sans’ face when he could.

 

‘ya look…. really good like dis…’ Death purred, looking up and down Sans’ body, over him, commanding obedience. 

  
  


Sans purred happily, nuzzling his face into Death’s chest. ‘y’ do too,’ he told him, voice low and quiet, but honest. ‘y’ look so good… my love.’ He gently rubbed the base of Death’s cock with the heel of his palm, his fingers idly fondling the balls.

 

‘wan’ me t’ help you get those off?’ He purred out, his free hand tugging at the half pulled off clothes he was still wearing. ‘but i gotta stop touchin’ then.’ He hummed teasingly, running his palm completely over the length of the shaft to underline his point.

  
  


‘no! don’ stop, ‘m good like dis.’ Death whined, breathless, withering under Sans when his balls were fondled. ‘hah!’ Death yelled, body arching when Sans ran his hand under the bottom of his cock, making it grow hard, arching to attention just like it’s owners back.

 

‘ohh snas!’ Death moaned, shivering from exposure, but also in excitement. ‘touch me, dis is yer punishment, obey  _ me!’ _ Death whined, yea Death is the one supposed to be in control, Sans could only cum after making Death go a few rounds, Death wasn’t supposed to be begging, he was supposed to be commanding. But the way Death told Sans to touch him, it came out whiny and needy, like  _ he  _ was the desperate one, when Sans is supposed to be the desperate one when Death was the only one that was allowed to cum.

  
  


Sans hummed, almost chuckling softly at his mate’s tone, nuzzling gently into his neck. ‘as you wish,’ he purred out, already moving his hand to encase the cock, running it down slowly. He wasn’t sure how pleasant his bony hands actually were, so he let his dark magic gather around his hand and arm, cushioning the bones slightly, but not hurting Death.

 

‘’s that good?’ He asked, gently running his thumb over the tip.

  
  


‘ahh! so good!’ Death cried, panting like a dog, his back kept twitching and arching at random moments, groans and moans escaped Death’s mouth. His claws went to the side to ground himself somehow, his tail wrapped around one of Sans’ legs at some point, and his wings were splayed out under him, twitching.

  
  


Sans made a small, happy noise, more than satisfied by the positive reaction. He continued to pump his partners dick, slow and gentle. But he was focused, focused on both the movement of his hand as well as the noises and faces Death made. 

 

He altered between kissing and letting his tongue caress every part of Death he could reach. Meanwhile he kept his thumb on the tip of Death’s cock, collecting up any pre-cum he could get, spreading it slowly.

 

God, he was so cute. So adorable moaning and groaning underneath him, completely letting Sans pleasure him.

 

‘y’re amazing,’ he purred out, giving Death a small but deep kiss.

  
  


Death moaned into the kiss, leaning into Sans so he could sneak his tongue into Sans’ mouth. Lapping everywhere we could reach, the feeling of both their rough tongues meeting sending bolts down his spine.

 

‘ah, snas!’ Death called back, because really, he was getting a pretty good hand job, he couldn’t think of a compliment to give back to his mate, so he only called his name, telling him the only way he could that he is doing great.

  
  


But that was just fine for Sans, loving the sound of his name in Death’s mouth, loving the way he said it. He decided to speed up his pumping, squeezing and twisting his hand a little bit every once in a while. He listened carefully for any signs he should stop, but could only hear those precious moans that spurred him on, made him feel hot himself.

 

‘’y close, love?’

  
  


‘yes, yes! really close!’ Death cried, drool escaping his mouth and slipping down his chin, his head going back in pure bliss. And true to his word, Death did come a little after he said it, making Death’s whole body spazz, crying out his lover’s name.

 

“ _ snaaaass _ ” Death went limp after, panting hard while trying to blink a few times to get his vision back.

  
  


Sans was watching Death with a big, loving smile, still peppering his mate with kisses as he was limp, panting. He looked happy, satisfied, signaling Sans that he had done his job well. That it was time for him to get his turn as well.

 

He was already grinding slightly against Death, licking the cum off his hand. ‘’t’was good?’ Sans asked curiously, excitedly.

  
  


Death hummed warmly, a big smile on his face, ‘ maybe a round er two more be'fer yer punishment is over?’ Death mused, still shaking under Sans, it didn’t help that Sans looked so good over him, with the moon pronouncing his figure, his body figure and eye lights.

  
  


Sans’ eyes went wide in surprise, the whine he let out was barely on purpose. But he quickly managed to get himself together again, grinding with his already growing bulge against Death’s cock.

 

‘y’ sure y’ don’ wan’  _ me? _ ’ He purred out, trying to tease him more.

  
  


‘no, no!’ Death whined, ‘it’ yer  _ punishment _ , ya can only cum when i do at  _ least  _ one er two more times. wha da point in a punishment if ya enjoy it, no love, yer gonna suffer fer laughin’ at me dat day!’ Death giggled, but it turned to a moan soon after with Sans’ grinding.

 

‘get ta work mate!’ Death called joyfully.


	55. and on your right, you will see two demons in nature, fucking their brains out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **content warning: sexual content**

Sans’ own groan quickly turned into a pathetic whine, but he obliged in the end. This  _ was _ a punishment. Though he didn’t remember what for, didn’t know what Death was referring to, he  _ had _ told him it was a punishment and Sans was going to take it. Probably. Maybe.

 

He got off his mate, letting himself slowly wander down until his face was right at Death’s cock. ‘’nother round then,’ he purred out quietly, mouth close to the cock as he began running his tongue up from the base to the tip, playing a bit with the slit there. He left small nibs and kisses as he continued the motion, savoring the taste of Death on his tongue…

 

Fuck he was getting so hot it was starting to get uncomfortable. One of Sans’ own hands slowly began traversing downwards to his own crotch, rubbing slightly at the glowing bulge.

  
  


Death  _ keened _ when his sensitive cock was being manhandled again, instead of just simple pumping, he was getting licked, bit, kissed and touched all at once. Oh Death wasn’t going to last long isn’t he?

 

But Death did notice Sans touching himself with one of his hands, and that simply won’t do. His tail unwrapped itself around Sans’ leg, before lightly whacking Sans’ hand away, tutting him.

 

‘no, no mate. not ‘llowed.’ Death grinned, but he did show some mercy, his tail danced around Sans’ bulge, rubbing against it ever so softly, like a feather. 

  
  


Sans whimpered against Death’s cock, the small almost-touches so close to what he needed, yet not enough. ‘deathhh,’ he whined out quietly, but there wasn’t any real meaning behind it. He knew he had to please his mate more if he wanted his release.

 

Sans stopped his licking and lapping on the dick for only a small moment, before taking it into his mouth wholly. He summoned a throat to cushion his skull, to swallow around the sensitive organ, to let the humming and purring vibrations travel from Sans’ magic to Death’s.

  
  


Death moaned out loud, squirming under Sans’ minitrastions, his hand flew to grab onto Sans’ skull, guiding his dick into Sans’ hot wet mouth. It didn’t take him long to cum again, already so sensitive from his first round.

 

‘aahhh! snans! oh snas~’ Death was saying Sans’ name like it was harmony, like it was his muse and life. He didn’t know how much more he could take, but Sans needed at least one more round.

 

‘hurry uuuup! one mer round, one mer ‘nd den fuck me, fuck me!’ Sans wasn’t the only one that wanted Death to be taken, humping weakly into Sans.

  
  


Sans groaned needily, licking up the cum from the corner of his mouth as he looked up at Death panting. Fuck… another round. Another round, but then he could  _ finally _ fuck Death, could finally get his own release.

 

He gently licked up the bit of cum still running from his mates dick, eyes locking onto Death’s lovingly. But he didn’t plan on staying there for too long. If he wanted to wreck Death after this - and boy he was going to - he had to prepare him first.

 

His head wandered lower, hands gently grabbing onto Death’s waist and lifting him up just enough for Sans to reach the small, welcoming, puckered hole. He let his tongue out, licking a long stripe over the hole, before letting his tongue circle it impatiently, prodding in every once in a while to tease his mate.

  
  


“ah!” Death gasped, looking down in shock. Was Sans…. was Sans doing what he thinks he gonna do? Oh, he is. Death shivered when the tongue lapped over his puckered hole, making everything tingle.

 

‘snas, hurry, i want ya ta take me!’ Death cried, a complete wreck under his mate, shivering and panting, eye lights formed and hazed over, watching Sans with half lidded sockets.

  
  


Sans groaned, pleased to know he wasn’t the only one needy here, the only one wanting to move on to the next round. He grinned cheekily against Death, before plunging his tongue into his hole, wiggling and feeling around it, stretching it out, trying to find every sensitive spot he could reach. 

 

‘tha’ goo’?’ He asked, his mouth still occupied deep inside his mate.

  
  


Death groaned long and hard, back arching while his head flew back. His legs moved apart to give Sans more room, fighting with himself not to close his legs around Sans’ head to not only squish his pretty head, but restrict him from finishing this last round before the main event, Death didn’t want to slow Sans down  _ at all _ .

 

‘y-ye-es! y-yes s-snas!’ Death screamed, his body spazzing out too much for him to hold onto anything.

  
  


Sans hummed pleased, letting the vibrations travel through Death. But he was impatient, hot and needy and was only waiting for the go-ahead of his mate. His hand wandered back up to Death’s sensitive balls, squeezing and fondling them ever so gently, trying to speed things up a little.

  
  


Death made a strangled gurgling sound, his body freezing up while his legs pulsed, before the smaller demon gave up and wrapped his legs around Sans’ head, pulling him in and grinding against his face.

  
  


Sans gasped surprised, almost pulling his tongue back startled as he felt something constricting around his skull. But he quickly noticed what was going on, and instead let out a relieved chuckle, continuing to eat out Death’s ass.

 

He was syncing the movements of his tongue with the grinding of his mate, circling it or pulling it in and out at the same pace. Only his hands movements were clumsy, unable to see a lot of it. He opted between fondling Death’s balls and gently stroking his dick with barely any pattern and rhythm, not wanting Death to be able to tell what Sans was going to do next, or rather when.

  
  


Death couldn’t handle much after two rounds, so it didn’t take long for Death to cum once again, his seed shooting up into the air before landing on his chest. Death had screamed Sans’ name once again, shivering while his whole body arched, if Death was in the right state of mide, he would be worried for his back.

 

He slumped down, twitching and spazzing out in random moments, trying to catch his breath.

  
  


Sans pulled back slowly, glancing over his mate satisfied. The way his limbs kept twitching, his face looking pleased and exhausted, chest rising with his panting, covered in his own seed… He looked almost too good, almost too perfect and peaceful for Sans to ruin the image.

 

But his hands had already traveled down to pull down his pants, revealing his own dick, standing hard and pulsing with need. And he wasn’t planning to give Death much of a break either. He’s been teased too much and too long for that.

 

He mounted Death quickly, already slamming in and out of him rapidly. His body was pressed close to his mate’s, mouth kissing over his face. 

 

‘my turn,’ he purred out almost evilish, and  _ finally _ he knew it was true.

  
  


Death  _ screamed  _ when Sans’ suddenly shoved his cock into Death’s weak body, hands trying to grab ahold of Sans in any way, but he couldn’t. His insides were burning, it hurt so good, his overstimulated private parts spazzing unstop. Death was squealing into Sans’ neck, completely out of breath and struggling to get ahold of  _ anything _ . His mind was going numb, his arms and legs shaking before flopping to the side.

 

He came too many times to have any strength left, letting Sans handle everything, even if his mate was going fast and so rough. It was understandable, even if it hurt, it also felt so so  _ so  _ good, making Death and whimpering gasping mess, making babbling noises instead of actual words.

  
  


And Sans was reveling in those noises, drinking them up like it was his ambrosia. He wanted to kiss Death, wanted to kiss him so bad, to taste him, but  _ no _ part of him wanted to stop those beautiful noises.

 

So he went for Death’s neck instead, biting strong and deep into the mark, slamming into him even harder.

  
  


Death lost his voice when teeth sank into his neck, only making a high pitch little squeal, barely anything at all. His breathing was labored as his aching body took the brutal dick wholey, he tried to return the love mark by biting into the mating mark on Sans’ neck, but he was to weak, he couldn’t even move any of his bones, completely at his mate’s mercy. Which was another thing, it looked like Sans’ mercy went out the window, down into a cliff and drowned into a river. Sans was  _ brutal _ , he was taking Death with little to no break, only core loving, wrecking Death’s body more than it already was.

 

And it was so good!

 

Death could only make small squeals and gurgling sounds, even his tail was limp. But oh lord does this feel like heaven, this feels amazing, so good and beautiful. Death never wanted this moment to end.

  
  


Nothing gold stays forever, though, and it had to end eventually. Even if Sans wasn’t exactly done himself yet, pulling out and ramming back in turned harder and harder with every turn until Sans found it painful for not just him, but probably even more for Death.

 

He didn’t pull out that time, instead staying locked inside Death as his knot continued swelling slowly, Sans being left to rut and grind against Death helplessly. Small, quick movements, followed up by small needy whines, his teeth never quite leaving Death’s neck.

  
  


At this point Death couldn’t tell pain from pleasure, but he did feel something growing, something stretching his walls and pulling at them not so pleasantly, he was glad when Sans decided to just stay inside him and rut against him.

 

‘s-ah-ah-hhaaa-an-n-nnn-ns!’ Death cried, needing a second to take each rut before he could even continue, weakly slumping his head against Sans’ neck, finally opening his mouth and very slowly sinking his teeth in, not having much energy left in him at all.

  
  


It was still good, though, still good enough for Sans to let out a guttural groan, managing to bury his cock even deeper inside before he finally came. With the knot still lodged tightly inside Death, none of Sans’ cum could actually escape, filling the smaller demon up probably more than he should. And Sans was such a huge help with that might-be issue, lying limply on his mate, panting as he barely even had enough energy to heal up the bite-wound again.

 

He did that, though, not wanting to risk Death actually getting hurt, and he kept licking over it lazily, hazy eyes watching his mate with curiosity.

  
  


Death’s sockets were closed, his belly felt full, filled to the brim, with his lower body abused beyond belief. He whimpered, he had let go of Sans’ neck, and was laying on the ground limp, not even able to shiver or twitch if he wanted to, his body wasting the energy he wished he could have control over to preserve but being wasted with spazzes and shaking.

 

It was starting to hurt more, now that the pleasure wasn’t there to bury it in intense loving.

 

He was going to pass out.

 

And he really wanted to tell Sans he loved him, he really did, but feeling bloated made him feel like he couldn’t talk, using up all his energy made it so he can’t move his jaw, doing anything was to much. So Death let go and let himself be consumed by the darkness around his vision, falling into a peaceful and satisfied sleep.

  
  


Surprised and worried Sans let out a few small chirps and clicks, not having expected Death to pass out. Had he hurt him after all? Gone too far? Maybe drawn too much blood?   
  
But Death seemed peaceful, seemed content. So Sans decided it was at least safe enough for him to let him sleep.

 

He spread his wings so they were covering him, cocooning Death into a protective cave of magic, before making himself comfortable on top of him. Sleep came to him almost as soon as Sans knew there were no predators around, being assured they were both safe.

 

-

 

Morning felt like it came too soon, like he only got an hour of sleep. Death groaned miserably, his sockets cracking open, pleased and surprised to see wings protecting him from the harsh rays of light.

 

He looked around inside the cocoon, seeing Sans sleeping peacefully, it brought a smile to his face. His arm weakly went to pet Sans’ head, caressing it smoothly. He moved the slightest bit, only to wince when his abused walls were touched and pulled by the dick inside him.

 

Sans’ knot went away at some point, letting cum drip from his hole one drop at a time. His whole body hurt, and he couldn’t feel his legs….. and he was getting hungry too.

 

This is becoming a big problem.

 

Death softly shook Sans, careful not to move him enough to rub his aching walls against his dick. ‘s….a….ns.’ Damn he even lost his voice, barely able to say one single word.

  
  


Sans let out a content purr in reply. Or just as reaction, because he wasn’t even close to being conscious enough to hear Death or realize he was trying to wake him. He did, in his sleep, manage to wrap his arms around his mate, though, rolling over until he was on his back and Death on top of him, letting gravity sink the demon deeper onto Sans’ limp dick.

  
  


Death sucked his breath in sharply, wincing hard when Sans moved them, rolling and switching positions, making their joined parts rub and squeeze against each other. But he let out a painful yelp when he sunk into Sans, feeling the dick slide in easily, due to the cum still nice and wet sloshing inside his walls.

 

Death whimpered hard, his weak hands squeezing Sans’ shoulders, he put all his energy into squeezing those shoulders and whimpering urgently, pained, hurried, he didn’t bother trying to speak, he knew he couldn’t.

  
  


But that didn’t matter a lot. The yelping, the noises of pain and distress were what ended up waking Sans’ up. 

 

He blinked a few tired times, needing a moment to realize what was going on. Before his eyes widened in worry. His hands ran over Death’s body, touching and feeling every part of it, eyes running over him.

 

‘’re you ‘urt? did i hurt you? where!?’

  
  


Death whimpered more, tears at the edge of his sockets, trying desperately to move off of Sans’ cock but failing bad, only managing to move around just a little bit, making it worse, his walls unable to stand any more.

 

He tried to form words, it taking so much energy to just form them, sadly the energy was wasted, because nothing came out, his voice gone from all the screaming he had done the night before. Death almost cried out in desperation and frustration, he had no way of communicating and no way to tell Sans that it hurts, a lot.

 

  
And Sans wasn’t any wiser either. But he hated seeing Death like that, seeing him suffer like that, and let out small, worried whines. He picked his mate up, leading him to lie back gently, pulling out to be able to search his body all over for any injuries, licking the bones to heal anything he couldn’t find.

  
  


Death gasped in pain when the dick finally left his weak body, rubbing his abused walls one last time before leaving completely. Death sighed in relief when his body was finally relieved of intrusion. He relaxed on the floor right after, he vaguely took note liquid dripping out of him more, but he really didn’t care, all that mattered was the pain stopped.

  
  


Sans, though, still didn’t know what was wrong with his mate, still licking over every bone in hopes that his dark healing magic helped Death with whatever happened to him. He was leaning in close once he got most of Death covered, licking over the mark he  _ knew _ he had opened again, before gently kissing up Death’s cheek.

 

‘’m sorry,’ he purred worriedly. His hands were trailing with healing magic now, replacing the tongue that was busy leaving small, worried kisses over his mate.

  
  


Death whined softly, his arm weakly going over his abused private area, covering it, protecting. Death tried to tell him it was okay, he was fine now, but all that came out was cut off squeaks and noises. At least Death had the air to him that he was calmer, relaxed, he was okay now. Besides his soreness and his lack of a voice, but that’s besides the point.

  
  


Sans whined back quietly, glad that Death seemed less pained, but still worried. He watched with curiosity as his mate went to cover his privates, translating the motion as some kind of message. And he gently replaced Death’s hand with his own, letting his magic seep to the abused hole, watching Death’s expression hopeful.

  
  


Death let out a big sigh of bliss, closing his sockets slowly, his mouth twitching up into a smile, he tried to coo at Sans, but it came out weird without anything put behind it to strengthen it, thankfully it sounded enough of a coo to pass.

  
  


Sans let out a relieved purr, pleased with the reaction. He kept letting his magic flow through Death for a while, feeling himself getting exhaust. Healing was far from what his magic was meant for, it  _ worked, _ but it was straining for Sans. Though it was worth it for Death.

 

He only stopped when he heard movement from straight ahead, stepping forward a little so he was covering Death with his body, wings spread.

 

“I FOUND THEM!!!” Papyrus gasped excitedly. “ASTER, DAD!!! THEY’RE HERE!”

 

Sans let out a small, unsure growl. He was lowering on his legs warily, still not revealing Death, but less aggressive.

  
  


Aster walked out of the bushes, gasping at Death laying motionless on the ground, with Sans hovering over him. “What in blazes is going on?” Reaper came behind them grumbling something no one could understand.

 

Death tried to get a glimpse of them, but all he could see was wings, dark wings covering him. and he was grateful after a second, because he was completely exposed, from legs to chest, hell he bet they could see his pants laying around.

  
  


“Oh-! ...Stars,” Gaster sighed uncomfortably, being quite able to tell what happened from the way Sans’ clothes were on him messy, Death’s clothes didn’t seem to be on him  _ at all. _ Not to mention the musky smell still on them. Well this certainly wasn’t what he was worried had happened when the two were missing.

 

“I… suppose we should give you two a few more moments of privacy…,” he uttered out, glancing at Reaper. “Can you make sure they come back safe?”

  
  


Reaper nodded, unamused, like he was already doing just that. And he was, he protected them while they had their fun, after it, and even the aftermath. He didn’t even need to be asked, he knew what to do.

  
  


“Thank you,” Gaster said with a nod, turning to go back.

 

“WHAT??? WHY ARE WE LEA-”

 

“Don’t worry Pappy, they’ll be fine,” Gaster replied, quickly taking his son by the shoulders and turning him around to leave. He nodded over to Aster, motioning him to come as well to give the two their time to get dressed and maybe cleaned up…

  
  


After they all left, Reaper staying nearby, but out of sight. Death moved his shaky hand to his throat, trying to speak, but only squeaks coming out, dieing out and rough, looking at Sans hopefully.

  
  


Sans slowly got off of Death again once they were alone, purring gently at Death to let him know they were safe now. Did he have something on his throat? Did it… was it hurt?

 

He let out a confused chirp, hand going for the throat gently, letting even more healing magic seep through him.

 

‘...good?’ He asked, own voice slightly tired from the overexhaust of magic. But he wouldn’t let off until he knew Death was okay.

  
  


‘g….oo.d’ Death whispered, giving Sans a grateful smile, his voice was still scratchy and tired, but at least he had a little of his voice back, even if it took a lot to form words, he can now say something, his throat not as pained and dry as before.

  
  


‘good,’ Sans purred back relieved. He quickly pulled up his own pants, before going around to collect up Death’s clothes, helping his mate into them. He didn’t exactly like the idea of others seeing his mate in his purest.

  
  


Death let Sans do as he wished, helping him where he can, but staying limp most of the time. When they were finally done, Death wrapped his arms around sans’ neck, fully expecting to be lifted up, since his legs didn’t exactly want to work. Even his wings felt like they weren’t there at all, to numb and tired to move.

 

Guess it was up to Sans for Death’s travels.

 

“l..et…..’s …….g.o..” Death managed to say, looking at Sans tiredly, giving him a weak lick on the cheek.

  
  


‘...go?’ Sans repeated confused. He didn’t want to force Death to talk more than he had to, knowing it had to hurt. But he also had no clue where he was supposed to go.

 

Nevertheless he picked Death up gently, holding him securely and tightly to his chest with his arms, while walking simply straight ahead on his legs and wings.

  
  


Death pointed to the direction the rest of the group went, croaking out a small, ‘wa…’d..er.’ There was a stream close to camp, it was even visible at camp too.

 

He felt rather sticky, and it was worse that he couldn’t move to do anything about it.

  
  


Sans gave a purring nod, holding Death closer before he began to sprint into the direction Death pointed at. He could sense the camp from afar, hear the noises, smell the people. But camp wasn’t his destination, water was. So he quickly rounded the people ahead, instead rushing farther to where he could smell the scent of stream water.

  
  


When they got there, Death used his arms to try and take off his clothes, needing help from his mate in the end. but he gently splashed water on his body, rubbing out dry bits of cum on his legs and chest. When he was done cleaning, with Sans’ help so he doesn’t fall face first, Death drank the water from the stream, feeling the cool liquid make his dry and burning throat feel cool and manageable. 

 

‘h...aaa, sna...ss.?’ Well, the water sure helped, a lot. 

  
  


Sans purr in response was small and sad. Of course he hadn’t, wasn’t going to, stop Death, but why did he let the water wash so much of Sans’ scent on him off? Did he not want Sans on him? It had smelled so good and strong, so easily noticeable even for the weakest noses.

  
  


Death hummed questionably, looking at Sans with his head tilted, almost like he was asking what was wrong. He went back to drinking some more water, but still kept his gaze on Sans, and making sure Sans knows he was still looking at him, to let him know he had his attention.

  
  


Sans was pouting in response, almost whining pathetically, definitely putting up a pity party. ‘...don’ like my scent?’ He purred out quietly. He was lying down next to Death, head flat on the ground so he was looking up at him with big, questioning eyes.

  
  


‘lo..v.e it.’ Death answered, coughing lightly to clear his throat. ‘bu..t s..tic..ky,’ Death leaned into Sans, laying on him, to give him comfort and support, cooing lightly at his mate. The smaller demon gave Sans a few licks on his bone brow to soothe him, make him see he is right there for him, loving him, every second.

  
  


Sans hummed happily at the attention, nuzzling into his mate. ‘good!’ He chirped, glad, but also having a tone to it like he would be very disappointed had Death said he didn’t like it. ‘wan’ ‘em to know y’re mine an’ i’m yours.’

  
  
‘al..ways ye.r..s’ Death answered, resting completely on sans’ back, arms and legs sluggishly going to wrap themselves around Sans’ back. ‘fer...ever.’ He whispered, licking Sans’ mark to remind him that Sans himself is also  _ his _ .


	56. hey, who are you again?

They are back on the road, Death and Sans would _not_ leave each other alone, always seen pressed together and _always_ cuddling, when weren’t they? The flames happy enjoyed being near Sans and Death again, even more now that Sans didn’t get as angry as before, growling when he thought they were touching Death more than he would of liked, but it was avoidable. Petting _Sans_ on the other had was awful, Sans has been very distrustful to almost everyone in the group, only loving Death and okay with Reaper.

 

Death tried reintroducing Sans to all the members of the group, but not much of anything sparked for Sans. Almost a week passed since the kidnapping incident, when something unexpected happened.

 

Aster was throwing a stick around, watching Death scrambling for it like a baby giraffe, tripping over his own feet and other items on the floor, wiggling and doing extremely weirdly hilarious things that were oddly very cute.

 

At one point, when Death got the stick again, he ran past Sans and tripped, face planting on the floor with his legs in the air, the stick breaking from the force.

 

Sans yelped startled, immediately jumping up and running to his mate. He pulled on his clothes gently to get Death up in a less unhealthy position, licking over his face worriedly.

 

‘you ok?’ He purred out almost panicky. He was searching Death all over for any signs of hurt or wounds, any scraped or splinters of the stick in his joints.

 

Death looked hurt, but not physically, he looked heartbroken that his stick split in two, watching it fall from his mouth and to the floor lifelessly. ‘my stiiiiiiiiiiiick!’ Death almost wailed, falling to the floor to mourn stick number two falling to the same fate as the first one.

 

Reaper crooned to mourn the loss of another stick, Aster face palming with a slight laugh. How can such dangerous and strong creatures like Death act like _this?_ Like his whole world was broken because he lost his throwing stick again.

 

Sans let out a small, sad whine, lying down next to Death on the ground. He carefully picked up the two halves of the stick, trying to put them back together like puzzle pieces, but they wouldn’t stick… If there was only some kind of futuristic invention to make broken pieces stick together.

 

He ended up sticking out his tongue, letting his own spit roll off his tongue and onto the broken pieces. Voila. Magic managed to do anything. Like not fix that stick at all but make it wet with Sans’ drool now. Though Death’s was already on it anyways.

 

Death watched Sans sadly as he tried to fix the stick, but then whined and hid his face in Sans’ stomach.

 

Hearth watched with crossed arms from the back of the carriage, the back was opened to reveal bags, like food and sleeping bags, some stuff from each person, Sans’ old things, Russ’ and Comic’s things as well as a few other items from the village.

 

“Why not find a new stick? Maybe a better one?” He called out.

 

Death looked at him with hope, like _Hearth_ had the new better stick. Hearth raised his hands in surrender, to show he had nothing on him. “I don’t have it!” Which he regretted after, because Death deflated right after he did.

 

And Sans quickly noticed the change in Death’s demeanor, immediately turning his head to Hearth and growling at him like he _took_ Death’s stick. How dare he hurt his mate like that! What was he thinking he was _doing,_ mocking him? Or maybe he was _hiding_ the better stick.

 

Sans charged at Hearth angrily, fast and threateningly enough for Grillby to startle, jumping to push his brother out of danger. But Sans leapt past them anyways, instead going for the bags behind them, practically tearing them apart as he was looking for a new stick.

 

He came up after a bit of digging, his short tail wagging happily as he carried a big, fancy stick between his teeth, pouncing back to his mate to deliver it.

 

Aster gasped, seeing Sans carry _Comic’s staff_ , the wooden twisted staff with gems embedded into it. “W-wait, be careful with that!” Aster screeched trying get to Sans, but he was already giving it to Death.

 

Who looked very _very_ happy Sans found him a new stick, and it looked nice and pretty and just the sight of this strange stick made something inside Death tinge. ‘dis is my fav’erite stick now, thank ya snas!’ Death squealed, grabbing the staff with both hands, but he gasped the moment he made contact, freezing.

 

Sans cooed startled, watching Death confused, slightly worried. Was he okay? Did he hurt himself with the stick? Was it some kind of poisonous plant?  
  
‘death…?’ He chirped out, trying to get closer to maybe snatch the evil stick back to get his mate safe again.

 

Death gasped, it sounded strained and choked, dropping the stick to hold his head. He groaned while he cradled his aching head, swaying. This caught the attention of Reaper, then the flames, and then everyone else, they all noticed something was happening, and jumped when Death let out a loud scream of agony.

 

He fell to the floor, curling up and gasping for air, his face showed fear and confusion, panic, with fog starting to cloud his sockets, like he couldn’t see.

 

Sans eyes widened in fear. He quickly tossed the offending stick away as far as possible, before trying to get closer to his struggling mate. His hands ran over him carefully, letting magic run through them and to Death.

 

What was going on!? Why was he in pain, he didn’t seem hurt and he couldn’t see any burn marks or anything the stick might’ve given him.

 

“W-WHAT’S HAPPENING???”  
  
“What’s going on!?” Gaster called demandingly, quickly rushing past everyone to get to Death. But before he could get close enough to see what was wrong with him, Sans was swiping and snapping his jaw at him fiercely, one wing going to cover up his mate.

 

“I’m trying to _help,_ Sans!” Gaster tried to insist, his tone urgent, panicked, but Sans wasn’t backing off.

 

Death didn’t stop screaming, holding his head as his body started to change, his bones bending into a new shape, his claws, wings, tail, horns and sharp teeth gone. His voice started to change into something less demonic, yet familiar.

 

Once the screaming finally stopped, the skeleton groaned as he went on his side, trying to open his eyes with trouble.

 

Something about Death was off. No, everything about Death was off. He didn’t look like him anymore, instead looked… smaller. Defenseless. Weaker and younger… innocent? Oh no, did that mean he’d be even more prone for danger!? How would he fight, he had no claws or horns!

 

‘death!’ Sans purred worried, quickly climbing on his mate, licking over his face. ‘wha’ ‘appened? where’re your wings? your claws? your legs are weird, can y’ walk…?’ Would he be able to heal _all_ of this!? What would he do if not, was Death going to be handicapped like that for the rest of his life!?

 

Comic opened his sockets, his eye lights first noticing teeth, sharp teeth, close to his face and ready to rip him open. The young sorcerer screamed in terror, pushing off Sans and scrambling away, he looked around quickly and ran for his staff, looking back a few times to watch Sans’ movements as he got his staff back.

 

“demon! aaaaahh, please don’ eat me, please! i don’ taste good!” He screeched, holding his staff close before bolting, not stopping at all, even stopped looking back to see where Sans could be.

 

Aster choked on his own tongue when he saw his son, his _sorcerer_ son, not his _demon_ son, his son before everything. He glanced at Reaper, who seemed lost and panicked, not sure what the hell is even happening.

 

Sans let out a pathetic whine as he got _pushed off_ by his mate, as his mate was _running away_ from him. Was this some kind of _joke?_ Some kind of exercise for Death? No, no Sans could smell the fear from him. _Fear,_ like he was scared of his own mate.

 

But whatever it was, Death wasn’t stopping, and he was getting very far away, too far away for Sans’ comfort.

 

So he bolted after him, running around everything in his way. He climbed on top of the carriage and leapt down, spreading his wings to sail after his mate, chirping at him in confusion.

 

“Oh fuck,” Grillby breathed out, watching them from inside the carriage. There was too much happening. Too much. They certainly could never get a break, could they!?

 

Comic looked back when he heard Sans’ chirping, screaming in horror as a demon was flying at him, just him.

 

His staff sparked before his feet started to glow, his legs becoming faster, the pushes his feet makes when pushing him forward are longer, almost like he was gliding with his feet. Comic easily was able to make a sharp left, his new speed making it a sharper turn, and regaining the speed he lost when slowing to turn, but that really wasn’t a problem with his spell.

 

Sans meanwhile, having landed at this point and still a clumsy runner, tried to take a turn when Death did, only to end up running against a tree, letting out the most undignified grunt possible. He got himself back up quickly, whining at the distance his mate won, but not letting that stop him from continuing to give his chase.

 

Gaster was watching them, eyes in a concerned frown as he got up to Aster. “Should… Do you think we should… stop them?”

 

Aster had wide sparkling eyes, shaking his shoulder with the most excited look, “M-my boy, he isn’t a demon! Look Gaster look! Look at my boy!” He looked like a child getting everything he wanted for christmas.

 

Ignoring his sons screaming, ignoring his other son give chase, making his youngest scream bloody murder.

 

There was a small, selfish part of Gaster that wanted to be bitter about this. That didn’t want Aster to have his son back, when _he_ had lost is own.

 

But… Aster seemed so happy, so excited, and he couldn’t help but feel happy for him as well. “You’re right,” he said, more enthusiastically. “He’s back!”  
  
Which meant… Did that mean… he could get _Sans_ back as well? How, though, he barely knew what happened with Comic just now. Was it the leftover magic on his staff?

 

Papyrus let out a small sigh as he watched the unhelpful adults be unhelpful, starting to run towards Comic instead. _Someone_ had to help them…  
  
“IT’S OKAY!!!” He called over to the sorcerer. “DO NOT WORRY, YOU’RE OKAY!!! HE’S SAFE!”

 

Comic didn’t exactly listen, or probably didn’t know _who_ Papyrus was talking about, only screaming when the demons chased him, screaming louder and higher pitch when either of the demons got close.

 

Hearth sighed, sitting down and rubbing his eyes. “What the fuck is going on….?”

 

This was getting ridiculous. Death was acting completely ridiculous, catching far too much distance between them! Why would he want to get away from his _mate,_ especially now that he was weak and vulnerable.

 

Sans let out a frustrated roar, hands thrusting onto the ground, sending a surge wave of dark magic through it. It stopped right in front of Death, spikes growing out of the ground, cutting off his way as Sans started to finally get closer.

 

“ _stop runnin’, y’ idiot!_ ” He roared after him anyways.

 

Comic gasped in horror when his way was blocked, he quickly looked behind him to see the smaller demon getting closer. So he did the only thing he could think of, he formed a cyan golden barrier around himself, squatting down to use less magic to form a smaller barrier. He hid his face so he didn’t have to watch the demon close the distance, shivering in fear.

 

“someon’, ‘elp!!!” Comic cried.

 

Not understanding what the faint glow of the magic meant, Sans ran straight into the barrier, crashing against it roughly. He landed flat on the ground with a small grunt, but ended up deciding to stay down anyways. He was looking up at his mate with big eyes, whining desperately as his hands gently scratched around the barrier.

 

“...death…?” He squeaked out quietly.

 

Comic gasped when he heard and felt Sans slam into the barrier, curling up on himself. “please mister d-demon! i don’ taste good, please leave me ‘lone!” Comic cried, not looking at Sans at all, scared at seeing those sharp teeth, those deadly claws, and that scary gaze it had.

 

Sans let out a sad whine, scratching more against the barrier. Did Death not remember him? Lost his memory? He _knew_ this was Death, his mate. He could smell him, could still see the mark, could smell _himself_ on him.

 

“...mate,” he purred out desperately, scratching more against the barrier. “pleaaasee…”

 

“mate? i don’ wanna b-be yer mate! ‘m sans’ mate, please ‘m taken, please don’ ‘urt me er sans, oh lord please not sans!” Comic cried, moving to the other side of the barrier to be as far away from Sans as he could.

 

“Comic!” Aster cried, waving to his son as he ran towards him, one hand on Reaper’s shirt to guide him, the big demon looking grumpy.

 

“f-fa-ather, oh no please don’ brin’ more! aaaa!” Comic looked like he was going to have a breakdown, shaking violently, his breathing was very fast it was concerning.

 

Sans started to panic when his mate seemed to panic more, going between him and Aster, flapping his wings angrily. Like hell he would let anyone close when his mate was vulnerable like that!

 

But Aster was quickly followed by Papyrus, and then Gaster. Even Grillby seemed to come closer, still hanging back to watch from afar, ready to jump in if need to, but not wanting to break into a family moment.

 

Sans started to feel cornered, outnumbered, backing up until his back hit the barrier, wings still spread protectively.

 

“don’t ‘urt him!” He growled through grit teeth.

 

Comic was hyperventilating so much that everything outside the little bubble he made for himself was nothing to him, gone, like he was in his own little world, his own little bubble.

 

Aster showed his hands to Sans, needing Sans to understand that _now is not the time_ . “Sans! This is Comic, this is who Death was before he was a demon, he doesn’t know what happened, he is confused and scared! Please let us help, he only remembers you _before_ you turned to a demon, you're scaring him, he knows us though, please, I need to help my son!” Aster pleaded, looking at Sans hopelessly.

 

Sans was backing down, glaring up at Aster, glancing from the older monster to Death - or rather _Comic -_ then back to Aster. He was his _mate!_ Why would he be scared of him? All Sans would ever want was his safety.

 

“BROTHER, PLEASE. WE’RE NOT GOING TO HURT HIM!!!” Papyrus assured softly. “YOU CAN STAY CLOSE AND WATCH! NO ONE WILL STOP YOU TO INTERVENE.”

 

Sans let out a small, uncomfortable chirp in response, but… His own attempts obviously hadn’t helped… Maybe they really _did_ know how to help.

 

He stayed low as he left the bubble, giving them space to approach Comic. Instead Sans slipped underneath Reaper, feeling uncomfortable with so many non-demons around. Not even his own mate wanted him anymore. Reaper was the only one he had left.

 

Reaper cooed at Sans, his wings dropping down to shield Sans’ sides, looking down at him sadly. ‘THEY TOLD US WE TURNED TO THEM BEFORE, BUT TURNED BACK TO DEMONS SOON AFTER. I NEVER SEEN MY BROTHER LIKE THIS, BUT I HOPE THEY CAN CALM HIM DOWN…’

 

He watched as Aster moved to the barrier, knocking on it before his own hands started to glow, his hands and then his arms going through the barrier soon after. Comic looked up when a hand rested on his shoulder, he looked like he was about to lose it when he felt someone touch him, but relaxed when he saw it was his father.

 

Aster fully entered the bubble, holding his arms open for Comic to go if he wanted, and he did. Comic threw himself into his father’s arms, holding him tight.

 

“fa’der! w-wha happenin’?!”

 

Aster shushed him, cradling him close and humming softly, Comic didn’t see the point in this, until he relaxed at the warmth from the older monster. Once he felt Comic has calmed down, he looked down and whispered, “Are you alright?”

 

Comic looked up with slight fear in his eye lights, “d-demons w-w-we-were ch-chasin’ m-me!”

 

Aster nodded, “Because you were running.” he pointed out.

 

“b-b-b-b-but w-w-why f-fol-llow?” Comic stammered, glancing at the two demons, shaking more when his eyes landed on them.

 

“They were worried Comic, they won’t hurt you. Right boys, you won’t ever hurt Comic right?” He looked at Reaper and Sans, Comic doing the same to see their response.

 

Reaper agreed the second he understood what he was being asked, trying to make himself look small and less imitating. “NEVER.”

 

“‘ _course_ not!” Sans whined back, sounding desperate and whiny, like the answer to that question should’ve been more than obvious.

 

Gaster was close to the bubble, sitting on the ground. “...Sans is just… very clingy, though he would always only want your best. I believe it is only fair if you give him a chance at the very least, for he has accepted you as demon for a long time.” The last part sounded almost… judgemental. A hint of annoyance that Comic would treat his son this way, after all that had happened.

 

But he _tried_ to keep it hidden as best as he could.

 

“s-s-sans!?! d-d-d-da-dat’ _s-sans!?”_ Comic screeched, looking at the demon with wide, sad eyes.

 

Aster nodded, “Yes, while you turned….. back to a demon. Sans himself turned into a demon…. because you got kidnapped… he was so worried, so scared, that his reason for turning demon was you, protecting you, keeping you safe. _That_ is why he is so clingy, he only wants you safe and happy.” Aster explained, rubbing his son’s back. “And that’s Reaper, Russ as a demon.”

 

Comic gasped, looking at the bigger demon, who was cooing softly at Comic. “How about dropping this bubble okay? You are making them quite worried.” Aster smiled down at his shaking son, his smile widening when he finally nodded.

 

Comic’s shaky hand raised slightly, his staff shining for only a second before the barrier around him gave way, but Comic still pressed himself to Aster’s side, watching the demons closely.

 

Sans didn’t hesitate, not quite understanding the possible need to take a more careful approach right now, and instead dashed towards them as soon as the barrier was down. He was purring loudly as he rubbed his skull against Comic, making sure to not hurt him with his horns.

 

Comic’s breathing started to quicken, hitching a few times before Aster placed both hands around Comic’s sides, shushing him. Comic calmed down enough to breath a bit better, but was still shaking. Aster grabbed one of his hands and gently led it to Sans’ head, making Comic pet Sans gently.

 

“See, not gonna hurt you, hell, he is like a big loyal puppy, just how you were to him.”

 

Comic blushed furiously when his father told him that, his mouth twitching upwards as his father let him pet Sans by himself.

 

“h-h-h-hi s-s-s-sa-ans…. h-h-ho-ow ‘re y-ya?” Comic asked, his body rigid and shaking, his gaze never leaving Sans’ face.

 

“bad,” Sans huffed out, but he was relaxing under Comic’s hand. “mate turned soft an’ defenseless an’ is scared a me.” He was pouting, head resting on Comic’s knee as the rest of Sans’ body was limp on the floor.

 

“AWWW, BROTHER!!! IT’S OKAY!” Papyrus chirped sympathetically. “HE WAS JUST STARTLED! I’M SURE YOU’LL GET BACK TO WHERE YOU WERE QUICKLY, JUST LIKE WE WILL WITH YOU!”

 

Sans glanced at him, slightly unimpressed. But he appreciated the attempt, twisting his body so he could lift and stretch one of his hoofed legs at Papyrus, giving him an appreciative boop.

 

Comic stopped petting Sans the moment he replied, that it registered that Sans was doing bad because of him, for waking up _again_.

 

He really was better off never waking up. His demon self will always be the prefered, the _wanted_ one, the one everyone loved.

 

“i-i-i-i-i…..’m s-s-s-so-sorry i-i-i-i r-ruined y-y-yer r-rea-lationship w-with m-my o-o’der s-self ‘gain…” Comic hiccuped, tears already close to spilling, shaking badly. “‘m s-s-so-sorry i-i-i w-w-woke u-up!” He was just a waste of space, he should just die and let his demon self be the only one to control this body, live in this body, be with _Sans_.

 

His hands went to his face to hide the tears, his father gasping and grabbing his shoulders. “No, no, no! It’s not like that at all, we are all so happy to see you again! Comic please!”

 

Sans whined quietly, feeling like he was somehow making things worse, but not understanding how. He watched the way Aster seemed to wipe away any unspilled tears, so wanting to help Sans reached up, gently but still decidedly moving Aster’s hand away to instead lick over Comic’s face.

 

He couldn’t let his mate just be sad. Even if his mate was weird and different, and even if Sans didn’t quite understand what was going on, why Comic was so upset. Comic _was_ his mate. And Sans swore to protect him, swore to keep him safe, to love him. He was Sans’ and Sans was his.

 

Aster watched Comic gasp in fear when Sans’ mouth got near him, but relaxed somewhat when he realized Sans was only licking at his face, but he was still shaking.

 

He watched Hearth walking over them, staying quiet but watching curiously, Reaper coming near and whined. Aster rubbed his head, giving him a small smile. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

 

He looked at Gaster, his smile growing wider slightly, “And now that this happened, maybe we can bring Russ and Sans back to normal, like Comic. We just need to figure out how we did it.”

 

He glanced down when he saw Comic move, seeing him gently and hesitantly giving both Sans and Reaper some pets on their heads, shaking like crazy and looking like he was going to have a panic attack, but fine either way.

 

“n-n-n-nice…. bro-bro’der ….. ‘nd mate?” Comic stammered weakly.

 

Sans purred relieved, leaning himself into the soft petting like he was starved for it. Like he needed it to survive. ‘goo’ mate,’ he purred out. He rolled over until he was on his back, looking up at Comic hopefully. His wings both spread to his side, one clumsily landing on top of Reaper, while the other landed on Aster’s lap.

 

Gaster watched this curiously, smiling at his son’s behavior, before looking back at Aster. “...Yes, I do hope so,” he said softly, for once feeling hopeful that things could… could go back to normal. “I believe the staff triggered some kind of reaction. I still have Sans’ in the carriage.”

  


Aster nodded, excitement in his eyes and finding out the cure for becoming a demon.

 

Meanwhile Comic is having the worst time of his life, unsure what Sans wanted, scared to put his hand somewhere Sans doesn’t want. “w-wha….. da ya…. w-want me t-ta da?” He asked, one hand has been absently petting a snoozing Reaper, who got really into his non demon brother pets.

  
  


Sans lifted his own arms up to grab Comic’s hand, pulling it down so his palm was flat on Sans’ face. “the thing!” He purred out, voice muffled through Comic’s hand. He kicked his legs out a little struggling to find the right word he needed for what he wanted, so he decided to do it himself instead, clumsily moving Comic’s hand to pet over his face unpleasantly.

 

But he was determined and he wanted his very different mate to show him his damn affection.

  
  


“pet… ya?” Comic asked, his fingers moving on their own, scratching Sans chin, sometimes moving to the side of Sans’ face to carres the sides.

 

Comic laughed lightly, “haha… dis is…. kinda cute. haha, yer cute!” He smiled down nervously at Sans, looking a little hopeful himself.

  
  


Sans purred happily and excited, leaning into the petting and scratching, letting his mate know he did good. His wings sometimes flapped contently, slightly slapping the poor victims underneath them, but he barely cared. He just was glad to be close to his mate, that Comic wasn’t running from him anymore. 

 

Papyrus scooted up carefully, trying to get closer to Comic and the two demons. His voice was careful, slightly nervous. “CAN… COULD I HAVE A TURN???”   
  
But Comic didn’t even get to answer, because Sans immediately grabbed onto Comic’s hand, glaring at Papyrus.

 

“no! mates only!”

  
  


“awww, w-why n-not?” Comic asked, shaking lightly, his shaking has gotten better, which was better all around. Comic looked at Papyrus, his smile nervous. “g-go ‘h-’head, y-y-ya c-can p-pet my b-bro’der i-if s-sans w-wants t-t-ta be s-stu-b-b-bborn?”

 

Reaper cooed from his name being called but when nothing else followed, he relaxed back into the pets.

  
  


Papyrus looked a little bit disappointed, but he nodded. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to pet Reaper, no. He gave Reaper a big, happy hug, petting between his horns once he got to it. It was just that… he missed Sans. Missed his  _ brother. _ And he knew it would take time for his demon version to come around, god knows it took a while for  _ Death _ to come around. But with the demon being his  _ brother… _ It was just a lot harder to be patient.

 

“CAN I ASK YOU A QUESTION???” Papyrus asked Reaper after a little bit, whispering as best as he could.

  
  


Comic stopped petting Reaper and put more attention into Sans, to give Reaper and Papyrus a sense of privacy, since Papyrus was suddenly whispering. It seemed like the polite thing to do. Instead he put both hands on Sans’ face, caressing and scratching where he saw Sans like it most. 

 

“w-w-w-why d-d-don’ ya w-want o-o-od’ers ta p-pet ya? d-dey ‘ren’t m-m-mean.” Comic asked, maybe slightly scolded, he remembered how Sans and Papyrus interacted back then, and it’s sad now that Sans doesn’t want his brother near now, it breaks his heart. Mostly because he has his own brother, and would know how it would feel, and wouldn’t want that for Sans and Papyrus. “y-y-y-yer bro’der i-is so n-nice!”

  
  


Sans looked up at Comic almost like he betrayed him. “y’re my mate!” He chirped out, wiggling on his back a little before he managed to turn around. He pushed Comic down to the ground so Sans was on top of him, face nuzzling into the crook of Comic’s neck. “only you. no one else.”

  
  


Comic gasped, his hands flying to his chest when Sans got up, squeaking in surprise when he was pushed to the ground, the demon looming over him. Comic almost started to freak out, but kept repeating to himself that Sans won’t hurt him, Sans was safe, even in demon form. He was his  _ protector _ , his  _ mate,  _ his  _ friend _ .

 

But Sans didn’t really answer the question, he is just saying why  _ Comic  _ can, but not why others can’t. But he  _ really  _ didn’t want to fight with Sans, he was unpredictable right now and Comic wasn’t wholly comfortable being around demons in general. He has been taught to fear and run away from them his whole life, now everyone is expecting him to suddenly be alright with it right away.

 

No, even if it’s Sans, his brother, Comic still felt uneasy, like any wrong move can anger one of them and they’d attack. So Comic didn’t argue, even if he wanted to ask more about it, he didn’t. Sans didn’t look like he wanted to debate about this, he looked absolute, firm on his answer, so Comic would rather leave it.

 

“o-o-ok-kay! o-o-okay! s-s-sorry i a-asked!” Comic’s arms were still pressed to his chest, shaking a little more than he was previously, but his hands were open and facing Sans, his palms to him, like he was trying to pacify his mate.

  
  


Sans stared down at his mate, smile cocked amused. “y’re weird, mate,” he purred out, his tone soft and loving still. He relaxed his limbs until he was lying down on top of Comic, one hand moving up to awkwardly pet his mate the way he had done for Sans before. 

 

“so weak and soft! gotta protect y’.” He laid his head on Comic’s chest, looking up at him with big eyes as he kept petting him. He could tell this version of his mate was still scared… still didn’t trust him. And he didn’t like it. Didn’t like it at all. A mateship without trust was… well. Probably most mateships out there, but it wasn’t the kind Sans wanted between them.

 

He didn’t know how to get him to trust him, though, so all Sans could do was try and hope and make sure this soft, weak version of Death would still be safe.

  
  


“th-th-thank y-ya, d-dat’ very n-nice of ya ta do.” Comic smiled nervously, one hand hesitantly going to Sans’ head to pet him like Sans’ is petting him right now.


	57. look who's the weak and whiny mate now! HAH!!

Reaper hummed in question, looking up at Papyrus a bit miffed, Comic had stopped petting him and put most of his attention on Sans. But Papyrus was still there petting him, so he moved his head so it was on the young skeleton’s lap, cooing at him to continue. 

  
  


There was a small pause where Papyrus didn’t answer. Hesitated, unsure whether or not he should actually ask  _ Reaper _ this. Or ask at all, knowing it was an unfair question.

 

But he did anyways, his head lowered to be close to Reaper’s as he kept gently petting him, whispering. 

 

“DO… DO YOU THINK MY BROTHER STILL LOVES ME???” The question came out quiet and anxious, so very unlike Papyrus.

  
  


“YES.” Reaper replied with no delay. “HE JUST NEEDS TO REMEMBER.” He stared at Papyrus with unblinking sockets, noticing how upset the other skeleton was. 

 

“MY BROTHER RAN FROM ME, BECAUSE HE DOESN’T REMEMBER, BUT HE LOVES ME.” Reaper sounded so sure, like he didn’t have anything to worry about.

  
  


Papyrus eyes sparked a little in new hope, not hesitating to give Reaper a tight hug. “YOU’RE RIGHT!!!” He said back. “YOU’RE RIGHT! THEY JUST NEED TO REMEMBER! THANK YOU REAPER. YOU’RE REALLY GREAT!”

 

He nuzzled into the tall demon to underline his point, still hugging him tightly. 

  
  


Reaper purred, pleased with himself and a job well done. He noticed Sans push Comic down, but he wasn’t hurting him, so he  _ suppose  _ it’s fine.

 

It was time for dinner anyways.

 

Everyone didn’t have a problem in going over to camp and wait for dinner to be ready, it almost was. Meat has been cooking since the whole overdeal, forgotten, thankfully it didn’t get over cooked.

 

The only one who had trouble was Comic, who gently tried to push Sans off of him. “c-can… ya m-maybe….. get off?” He asked hopefully, yet nervously.

  
  


Sans purred out a barely recognizable, “nope,” before wrapping his arms around Comic, getting onto his legs and wings to carry him over to the others. He sat down close to Papyrus and Reaper, letting Papyrus pet him a few times on the skull, but not reacting a lot to it. He was mostly busy placing Comic down gently, before lying on the ground next to him, his wing spread around his mate.

 

“food!”

  
  


Comic stayed still the whole time, holding his staff tight in one hand, but his hands went to grab the meat handed to him. He gave it a long look, the cooked meat looked unappetizing and disgusting like this. It looked so…. dry, lack of flavor. 

 

He watched the others eat, before looking down again at the meat, not pleased. He didn’t want to say anything, but really, he doesn’t think he could eat this.

 

Aster looked up when he noticed his son not eating, looking at him a little concerned. “Are you alright Comic?” Thinking that his fear clouded his hunger, that maybe Sans was making Comic too uncomfortable to be able to eat.

 

“‘m…. not ‘ungry….” He muttered, looking away. He was, he was hungry, but he can’t eat this, he just couldn’t.

 

“Not hungry?” Aster asked, a little baffled. 

  
  


Sans was digging into his own meat, or rather the raw one him and Reaper got before the others. He didn’t eat as much as Death or Reaper would, though, so by the time he glanced up at Comic curious and concerned, there was still most of the meat left.

 

He tore a good chunk of it off with his teeth, before slapping the raw, bloody meat onto Comic’s hands, bumping him slightly. “eat,” he commanded.

  
  


Comic gasped when the bloody flesh hit his hands, but wow did that look good.

 

But…

 

Didn’t Sans say before that eating it raw was bad? Even looked at Comic weird when he saw him eating it. So Comic kindly refused it, smiling nervously at his mate. “um…. no thank ya….”

 

His stomach was screaming at him in rage, but he really didn’t want people to look at him weird, think he is a freak, scream at him, chase him away. He really would rather starve than make people hate him again, and what’s even worse is that Russ isn’t here, to help him, guide him, protect him. He was alone, his brother a demon, not understanding him like he used to, and to make this even  _ worse _ , Sans was demon too. Both the people that understood him in some way were demons and didn’t understand norms anymore, personal space, or pick up how Comic feels like before.

 

This is the worst, he wants to cry.

  
  


“ _ eat! _ ” Sans repeated more demandingly again. He bumped his head into Comic gently, before ripping out more meat for Comic to eat. “‘s good! y’ like it!”   
  
“...Sans, I’m not sure if Comic can eat raw meat,” Gaster tried to chime in, only to get a dirty glare from Sans. 

 

“‘s good!” He repeated himself. “‘e needs to eat! meat’s good.”   
  
“I… Well…” Gaster was stammering, not sure if he wanted to argue with Sans or not. “Ah… Well, he has eaten raw meat before, so…” 

  
  


Comic curled up slightly, mostly to cover his face, but he did inch farther from Sans every chance he got, trying to put at least  _ some  _ distance between them.

 

He doesn’t know how long he could last with someone sticking to his side all the time without any sort of alone time, it’s even more uncomfortable with a dangerous deadly demon.

 

“‘m fine, really.” Comic tried to reassure, slowly scooting away, trying to make it as unnoticeable as possible. 

  
  


Sans did notice, though, mostly because he couldn’t feel the immediate closeness anymore and because he could tell Comic didn’t  _ want _ to listen to him. He let out a small growl, tearing up another piece of meat. But he kept it in his mouth this time, tackling Comic and pushing him to the ground. He pressed his teeth’ to his mates, almost like a kiss. But it was aggressive and forceful, tongue trying to force Comic to open up, feeding him the meat.

  
  


Comic began to scream, kicking and flailing about, he kept his mouth closed, screaming through his teeth. Hearth looked at Aster uncomfortable, he clearly wanted to help Comic, but he had no idea if he should, Aster looked like he was in the same boat.

 

He looked at Gaster for help, “what should I do?” He asked, lost and worried.

  
  


Gaster didn’t know either, though, hesitating anxiously for a moment too long. Because in that moment Grillby already reacted with a stressed sigh, rushing over to Comic and Sans to pull the demon off of Comic.

 

And Sans was  _ livid. _ Furious. Kicking out, flailing, flapping his wings. He was growling and hissing aggressively, loudly, with barely any control, only stopping when he accidentally swallowed the piece of meat still in his mouth, coughing on it.

 

“Calm  _ down! _ ” Grillby urged, holding onto the demon tightly. “He doesn’t want to eat right now, that’s  _ okay. _ He’ll eat tomorrow, or later.” But Sans was barely listening, still struggling in the hold of someone, someone keeping him from his mate which made Sans want to  _ tear his arms off.  _ But he  _ knew _ Death would be upset if he did. Damn it, Death! Why did he have to make it so hard for Sans to protect him, even if he wasn’t there right now.

  
  


The moment Sans was off of him, Comic got up and took off, he didn’t scream thankfully, but he looked horrified. 

 

Aster raising his hand towards him, yelling after him. “No, don’t run, he won’t hurt you!”

 

“‘e’s ta  _ rough _ !!!” Comic cried back, running past the carriage to go farther and…. oh lord, he isn’t stopping, he is going straight into the wild, as far away as he can go.

 

Aster gasped, getting up and running after him, calling for Reaper to follow, who did.

 

“Comic no, I know he is a little rough but please, we can work something out!” Aster pleaded, getting pulled onto Reaper’s back by the demon himself.

  
  


“Sans you’re staying  _ he- _ ” Well, so much to that. Grillby got a hoof right into the gut, dropping the demon in surprise. His arms went around his stomach as he bent over, almost feeling like he was gonna be sick.

 

Well, at least Sans got what he wanted, already dashing off to catch up with his mate.

 

Gaster got up as well, worried as he watched them all run off, Aster alone with two demons chasing Comic. That didn’t sound like the greatest idea. He quickly untied one of the horses from the carriage and got onto it.

 

“Grillby, Hearth, you watch Papyrus and the carriage.” He didn’t wait for an answer before riding off. Which was probably good, because Grillby hadn’t really recovered enough to talk yet anyways.

 

-

 

Comic was huffing heavily as he pushed his body to continue, his feet glowing with the same spell he used before, he felt bags under his sockets and it felt like they were going to fall off his face with how heavy they felt. his feet might as well fall off too, because they hurt like hell. While his body is at it, it can get rid of his head too, because it was pounding!

 

He looked back to see if anyone was following, barely making out Aster riding on Reaper, but no Sans. Maybe Grillby did keep him at bay? 

 

Gosh, why was Sans so rough, he used to be so gentle and considerate, now he is so rough and doesn’t care what he has to say, doing what  _ he  _ thinks is best. He doesn’t want to be treated like some doll, being told what to do while being roughly handled, he would rather get away!

 

So that’s what he was doing, getting away. He saw a river up ahead, and it looked like someone cut a tree down and pushed it down so it made a bridge. Comic didn’t think anymore, getting on it and running across, he looked back for a second to see no one there.

 

Good, he lost them.

 

But while he was looking back, his foot stepped to far from the middle of the trunk, making him slip and fall into the river.

 

Comic screamed in terror as his vision was blurred, he felt his body being pushed around every which way, he couldn’t even tell what was up or what is down. The river was fast, and Comic curled up in fright, tears escaping his sockets, but it wasn’t like anyone could see, the river taking the tears away just as well. The only thing it couldn’t take was his staff, that was securely and tightly in his grasp, in fact Comic was hugging it like a lifeline.

  
  


The worst about this was that neither Reaper and Aster nor Gaster saw this happen  _ or _ saw the sorcerer struggling in the river. Expecting him to have pushed ahead, they simply did too, using the bridge to cross the river, not hesitating for a moment.

 

Sans, though, was a very slow runner. Much slower than Reaper or a horse. He had been hanging back for a while and still was when he was about to cross the river, only to stop in his tracks  _ rapidly. _

 

Comic’s trail of scent didn’t continue past this river. Which  _ either _ meant he went back,  _ or… _

 

Sans was letting out a panicked wail, not hesitating a second longer to jump into the river, following the stream of it. He wasn’t built for water, wasn’t made to swim, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t. And with his wings he was pretty decent at it as well, their shape cutting through the water the same way they would through air.

 

“ _ comic! _ ” He called out panicked, before diving down for a few moments, trying to see if he was underwater in sight somewhere.

  
  


Comic’s staff had caught between two rocks, the bottom and the top of the staff hitting two different rocks, the staff was in a perfect position to stop Comic from getting any farther, but that just meant Comic had to hold on tighter to not separate from his staff, but his body was growing weaker, his body shivering.

 

He wanted to wail, he wanted to to cry out for help. But he was under the water, he couldn’t scream. But if he put one leg around the staff, maybe he can lift his other leg up to reach the surface, maybe someone will see him.

 

He was so glad he didn’t need to breathe. So Comic did just that, hook his right leg around his staff and weakly moved his leg towards the light, feeling his leg break the water. But with the current, it was hard to keep it up, he wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long. He just hoped they found him soon, hell, he didn’t even care if Sans found him, he just wanted out of here.

  
  


Though the leg left too fast for Sans to see, he  _ did _ see something moving in the corner of his eye. He rushed into the general direction quickly. Diving down panicked to see what the movement came from.

 

The  _ second _ Sans spotted Comic he  _ dashed  _ through the water towards him as fast as he could, using his arms to grab the monster tightly before the current could push him away. Getting the staff dislodged from the rocks turned out to be a struggle, and wouldn’t he be underwater, Sans would’ve let out a frustrated grunt as to why Comic wouldn’t just  _ let go! _

 

But he  _ did _ it, and he quickly swam up to breach the water surface, getting out of the river as quick as he could. As soon as they were on land; Sans was licking Comic all over, the claws on his wings pinning him down to the ground. He was  _ not _ going to deal with his mate running away  _ again. _

 

“y’re  _ still _ mine,” Sans said, and while there was an angry growl in his voice, annoyance from Comic’s behavior, there was also… hurt. He just wanted him to be  _ safe. _

  
  


Comic was coughing up water that got into his mouth, wheezing hard as he tried to release all the water he swallowed, when his body calmed down from expelling so much water. Comic began to cry, curling up as much as he could and wailed in terror and fear. Don’t get him wrong, Comic was super grateful towards Sans for helping him out, but the whole ordeal just was too much.

 

All he did was press his body to Sans’, sobbing into his chest, both hands fisting Sans’ shirt, with one hand still holding his trusty staff.

 

“eh! haaa! waaa!! i-ha-ha-ahh-m s-ah-ah-ahrrrrry!!” Comic hiccuped, his shoulder bouncing uncontrollably.

  
  


Sans let out a small huff, not having expected that reaction, not exactly knowing how to  _ respond _ either. So he simply laid down, body covering Comic’s, his wings cocooning them to give his mate both protection and body warmth, even  _ if _ Sans was about as soaking wet as Comic was. He was gently licking over the other, both checking for any injuries, but also simply hoping that it might help him calm down…

  
  


Comic did end up calming down, reduced to small hiccups after about ten minutes, his arms around Sans tightly, sniffing into Sans’ neck.

 

“‘m….. sorry…..” Comic whispered to Sans, trying to control himself from hiccuping or gasping, both still deciding to stick with him even after the break down.

  
  


Sans had trouble responding to that. Had trouble telling Comic it was okay, because it  _ wasn’t. _ It wasn’t in the  _ least. _ And he  _ didn’t _ want his mate to be this distressed, feel so bad, but he  _ should _ feel bad. He could’ve  _ died! _

 

“...don’... run ‘way ‘gain,” Sans muttered quietly. He slowly stopped licking Comic and was instead resting his head gently close to him, soaking up his mate’s warmth the way he hoped Comic was soaking up his. “... _ please. _ don’ wan’ you gettin’ hurt.”

  
  


Comic whimpered under him, the words hurting his chest, where his soul is. “i-.....it’... just… yer so rough, ‘nd mean!” Comic cried, shaking under the demon that was currently trapping him. “y-ya p-push me d-d-down, ya growl, ya d-d-didn’ even let me w-walk at all. y-yer so strong ‘nd ‘m weak, ‘nd it’ scary! scary when ya push me, don’ let me go!” Comic was covering his face, to avoid seeing Sans’ face.

 

“yer teeth… ‘re so sharp, when dey ‘re close ta my face, it’ scary. i know…. ya said ya wouldn’ ‘urt me, but wha if ya do? when yer so rough…” Comic whispered, moving his head to the side, still covering it with his hands.

  
  


Sans purred quietly, sadly, nuzzling over the side of Comic’s face, the small part that wasn’t covered by his hands. “don’ wanna hurt you,” Sans muttered out. “y’re jus’ not listenin’ if i ain’t rough…” 

 

He wasn’t eating and  _ someone _ had to bring him to eat! The  _ others _ hadn’t proven themselves very helpful.

 

“‘m your… your… mate… why don’ you trust me…?”

  
  


Comic removed his hands from his face, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. “i-...i-... i just… ‘m sorry, non demons don’t eat meat raw, they eat it cooked. s-so… i couldn’ eat da meat ya gave me… i wanted ta, i did…. but i was scared da od’ers would think ‘m a freak, hate me…” Comic had trouble forming the last few words, hiding his face in Sans’ neck so he didn’t see the tears in his sockets. “cooked meat tastes so nasty.” Comic said, he wiped his face before he laid back down to look at Sans to give him a disgusted face, sticking his tongue out like he ate something gross, sockets squinting.

 

“raw meat taste so much bed’er, cooked meat is awful!”

  
  


Sans snorted amused at the face, giving Comic a few licks and kisses. “why care ‘bout  _ them? _ ” Sans asked, the question being genuine. “if ‘s good ‘s good. y’ gotta eat.” 

 

No one ever judged him, Death or Reaper for eating raw meat, he really didn’t understood why they would judge Comic. And even if, wasn’t his health more important than what a pack of non-demons thought?

  
  


“cuz dey ‘re ‘mportant ta me, some ‘re my family, some ‘re yers. family is ‘mportant. like ya ‘nd me, ‘ren’t  _ we  _ family now? cuz we’re…. mates? dat means we ‘re family ‘ight? we ‘re ‘mportant ta each od’er.” Comic stated, his hands that sneaked their way to Sans’ shoulders tightened around the demon, almost drawing him closer.

 

“but yer ‘ight… ‘m ‘ungry….” Comic admitted quietly, looking to the side.

  
  


Sans’ purr grew a little louder, feeling glad to hear that he… still  _ cared _ about him. Called him important to him. The demon gently got up, carrying Comic in his arms as he started to track back.

 

“there’s meat a’ camp,” he noted, making sure Comic was being held secure, before starting to run a bit faster. “an’ this time you eat. y’ gotta.”

  
  


Comic gasped when he was picked up, but otherwise didn’t complain, only rested his head on Sans’ shoulder, giving in to his fate. “kay.”

 

He watched Sans’ from the crook of his neck, or what he could see. The sorcerer sighed, hugging Sans tighter, hesitating for a while before he moved again, using all his courage he had and doing it before he lost the nerve, he gave Sans a small and soft kiss on the cheek, before hiding his face back into the demon’s neck.

 

“thank ya…”

  
  


Sans almost startled, definitely not having expected that. But he smiled warmly, delivering a soft kiss back to whichever part of Comic’s skull he could reach from his position.

  
He did still love this monster. Even  _ if _ he was weird and difficult and weak… it  _ was _ still his beloved mate.


	58. Your innocent act doesn't work on me

After finally heaving out his stomachs content behind a bush further away, Grillby had decided to opt lying with his back on the ground groaning. Getting kicked was a bad thing, but getting kicked by _hooves?_ Man. He’d even rather get clawed by Death’s feet than that. A claw wound didn’t at least make him feel like vomiting his body’s contents out.

 

Hearth didn’t really go and comfort Grillby, he looked at the direction the others left. He still was pretty sour to Grillby, but he has to admit, it is pretty lonely and sad without him. His only family, but Hearth just can’t really bring himself to talk to him anymore. Because how would it look like if he comes crawling back?

 

He was strong, he wasn’t gonna be a fool like Grillby thinks he is. He would show him.

 

Papyrus had been noticing the two elemental’s… _distance._ Both to them in general, but especially to each other. But he’s never quite had the chance to bring it up, not knowing _when_ a right moment would be.

  
Right now, though, everyone was gone to give Comic a chase. And he knew he shouldn’t be following up, not that he even _could_ still catch up.

 

So he decided to go up to Hearth, watching Grillby for a moment worried. But the elemental seemed okay now that he had left to puke, and he wanted to talk to Hearth first. He tug the taller elemental gently on his clothes, trying to get his attention.

 

Hearth looked down to regard Papyrus curiously, “Is there something wrong, Papyrus?” His arms unfolding, but he didn’t turn to his direction, his body still facing where the others left.

 

“WHY ARE YOU AVOIDING GRILLBY SO MUCH,” Papyrus asked bluntly, and not lowering his voice at all, causing Grillby to glance over to them nervously. Oh, this wasn’t something Hearth would tell a _child,_ right? 

 

Hearth rested his hand over Papyrus’ head, looking at him with a solemn look. “Maybe you shouldn’t go around asking people about their person problems, you might not like the answer.” He muttered, looking away again, and crossing his arms, deeming this conversation done.

 

“I KNOW I WON’T!” Papyrus replied without hesitating. “IT IS ALWAYS SAD FOR SIBLINGS TO FIGHT, NO MATTER THE REASON.”

 

He glanced away from Hearth to Grillby instead, seeing the other elemental quickly glance away once he got caught watching. 

 

“Papyrus, maybe let this one go, I don’t want to talk about it and neither does my brother. Plus, this is nothing for a _kid_ to hear, it’s only for adults.” Hearth said, giving Papyrus a side glance, not really wanting to encourage Papyrus in any way. So being distant and uninteresting was the best route to go with a kid.

 

Oh, well. That’s not something Papyrus had expected. “DO… YOU WANT ME TO LEAVE???” He asked, slightly hesitant if this’d be the right thing to do, before getting more determined. “SO YOU AND GRILLBY CAN TALK ABOUT IT! SO YOU CAN LIKE EACH OTHER AGAIN!!!”

 

Hearth sighed, going to the campfire to sit down, because waiting for the others while standing up was just tiring. “No, me and Grillby have nothing to talk about, can we just drop the conversation?”

 

“DO YOU NOT WANT TO MAKE UP WITH GRI-”

 

“ _Papyrus,_ ” Grillby interrupted the young skeleton softly. He had gotten up, gently putting a hand on Papyrus’ shoulder to pull him away. “It’s okay. I messed up, that’s the story. And if Hearth doesn’t want to forgive me, I respect that.”

 

“BUT… YOU’RE BROTHERS?”

 

Grillby’s hand tightened a little around Papyrus’ shoulder as he glanced away. “Sometimes brothers just…” He let out a tense sigh. “...Have to part ways, too, I suppose.”

 

“Just let it go Papyrus,” Hearth said more firmly. Grillby is just being overdramatic. Part ways? What the hell does _that_ mean? 

 

Grillby is such a idiot. He is acting like it would be like this forever! Pfft, this idiot.

 

Grillby, though, was really just thinking Hearth didn’t want to have anything to do with him anymore. He had hurt him, had fucked up majorly, he wouldn’t be surprised or offended. And he _had_ been thinking of parting ways.

 

He wasn’t sure how right now, he didn’t have any food himself, didn’t have a horse or anything, he was basically dependant on the group he was traveling with. So right now he was mostly waiting to get to the next town before, well… doing _something._

 

He was obviously not to be trusted around Death anymore, and though Sans didn’t _hate_ him anymore, he probably should and didn’t _trust_ Grillby either. And he doubted his brother would mind Grillby leaving either. It would be better this way…

 

“I THINK YOU’RE ACTING IMMATURE,” Papyrus noted, still keeping his curious and optimistic tone. “BROTHER’S SHOULDN’T JUST AVOID EACH OTHER LIKE THAT AND NOT EVEN TRY TO TALK ABOUT IT! BUT… I SUPPOSE IT IS NONE OF MY BUSINESS… SORRY.”

 

“It. really. isn’t.” Hearth spat, glaring at Papyrus, “You should have dropped it when I told you the _first_ time. You have no idea of the problem, you have no right to call someone immature, it’s not like I’ll hate my only family forever. And in matter of fact, you were quite rude when you _kept asking about it_ when I told you to _please_ drop it.” He growled lowly and walked to the carriage, _not_ in the mood for Papyrus at _all_.

 

Who does he think he is? Just because he is a kid he can get into anyone’s business and say whatever? He didn’t miss how Papyrus ‘stopped’ when he dropped that ‘immature’ comment, maybe to get out before he pushed his luck or to drop it at a strong point. Like he was finishing the conversation with a flourish.

 

But still, it pissed him off how Papyrus kept talking about it, ignoring Hearth’s request completely, even when _Grillby_ even told him to stop.

 

_It really wasn’t his business!_

 

Just because he is young, optimistic and ‘cute’ makes him okay with doing shit like that, stupid kid.

 

Hearth’s body was feeling hot, he really wanted to sit down and calm his anger before it explodes, he already talked to Papyrus rudely when he left. So he climbed into the carriage to be alone to calm down.

 

Grillby glanced towards Papyrus slightly apologetic, seeing the skeleton flinch at the chiding. But he didn’t apologize for his brother, Hearth was right, even if he might’ve been harsh. Papyrus had been rude and too nosy.

 

There was something else, more important catching Grillby’s attention, though. A rustling coming from the forest.

 

“Papyrus, come here,” he said quietly, hushed, already drawing his swords. Papyrus rushed up to him quickly hiding behind the elemental startled. But it didn’t take him long at all to rush out from his hiding spot again, and instead to Sans and Comic arriving from the rustling bushes.

 

Papyrus gently reached his hand for Sans’ skull as a welcome pet, the demon letting him, even stopping for a small moment when Papyrus touched him, but not reacting otherwise.

 

“...What happened to you two?” Grillby asked, glancing over the dripping wet newcomers, before deciding to quickly start up a fire again.

 

Comic looked down at the ground, looking guilty, his tone sad, “‘m sorry, it’ all my fault…..” he curled up around Sans and hid his face in Sans’ neck so they don’t see his shame.

 

Grillby quirked a brow at the two, having no idea what he was talking about. “...Care to fill me in?”  
  
“river,” was all Sans huffed out, before gently placing Comic on the ground. He got off of him to get a piece of the leftover raw meat, quickly placing it in front of his mate, before covering him with a wing.

 

No, wait.

 

Comic didn’t like that, did he? Sans’ wing hesitated, hovering awkwardly over Comic’s body, before he gently folded it back again, opting to lie on the ground nervously instead. He didn’t like it not being able to feel Comic _there._ Didn’t like it not having his mate right by him.

 

Grillby barely noticed any of that. He let out a gasp, glancing shocked from the monster to the demon. Had they _fallen_ into a river?  
  
“Damn… are you guys… okay?”

 

Comic nodded slowly, glancing at them before back on the meat…… Maybe just this once. Comic grabbed the wing he saw Sans try to cover him with, and putting it around him. He scooted next to Sans until he was pressing into his side, so he had more room for the wing to go around.

 

Comic held the wing in place as he started with his meat with one hand, that way the wing was positioned to made it so no one could see him, so no one could judge him eating raw meat. Just the thought of those eyes on him made him shiver.

 

He looked down to Sans and asked quietly, “sorry, is dis okay?” He didn’t know if Sans would mind being used as a backrest and using his wings as curtains, he wouldn’t want Sans to feel used in any way. He just didn’t want to be seen… not eating something normal people don’t…

 

“‘s ok,” Sans replied, though the purr in his voice was so heavy, the words were hard to understand. He kept his wing in position, though, leaning in slightly closer to let Comic know he was okay.

 

Comic flinched away, didn’t understand with the thick purr, and just assumed the worst, to fast for him to notice Sans lean in before. “oh! it’ not? ‘m so sorry!” He sat up straight and started to move away, shaking in embarrassment and shame.

 

“Are… you sure you should be-” Grillby paused, seeing the death glare Sans was giving him, raising both hands to his chest. “Okay, okay!”

 

Sans kept his glare at the elemental, before slightly scooting towards Comic. He kept his distance still, but got close enough to look up at his mate with big, confused eyes.

 

“I… DON’T THINK HE MINDS,” Papyrus pointed out. “I THINK HE REALLY ENJOYS YOUR CLOSENESS, COMIC, YOU DON’T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT IT!”

 

“o-oh! ya said it was okay? ‘m sorry i didn’ hear ya good!” Now Comic’s face was glowing blue, embarrassment growing tenfold. He scooted back to Sans and laid back down on him gently, making sure he didn’t lean on a body part that would hurt or seem uncomfortable for Sans.

 

“thank ya…” He whispered to Sans, taking another big bite from his slab of meat.

 

Sans purred happily in reply, both to Comic coming close to him after all, but also to him finally eating. He lifted his wing to cover up his mate again, not sure if Comic still needed it. But he was there for him if he did.

 

“WHERE ARE DAD AND THE OTHERS???” Papyrus asked a bit confused, Grillby now looking up surprised, too.

 

“Did they not come with you?”

 

For a moment Sans probably _wanted_ to have an idea less than he had about what they were talking about. But then he remembered the others running after Comic as well, being in front of him. Huh. They must’ve straight up passed him.

 

Sans shrugged in reply, making a small ‘I-don’t-know’ noise.

 

Comic followed the movement, doing the same. “oops…..” He finished his slab of meat and looked at his bloody hand, feeling a little sad about it being gone. He looked down to Sans and slid down slightly to be closer to Sans’ head to whisper to him, embarrassed. 

 

“c-c-can…. i hav’.... m’er… meat?” He asked, his voice soft and quiet, barely anything. “please…?” He felt like he was bothering, or maybe wasting resources, but he was hungry and it tasted good. He just hoped it was okay.

 

Sans gave Comic a gentle lick in reply, licking the blood off his teeth. He turned a little, not enough to move away from his mate, barely reaching the raw meat and quickly dragging it closers to tear a piece off for his mate, dropping it in Comic’s palm.

 

“like it?” He asked curiously, his small tail wagging slightly happy.

 

Comic nodded weakly, already tearing a piece off with his teeth, chewing it slowly. “thank ya, sans…” He whispered, but it was fond and joyful, especially when he said his name. Now _this_ was the Sans he remembered, sweet, kind, and gentle.

 

The sorcerer was now leaning into Sans with his head on his shoulder, heads touching. He didn’t bother scooting back up, he felt nice and safe here.

 

While he ate, he kept glancing at Sans quietly, short quick glances only. He wanted to thank him in some way, anything, but what can he give other than meat?

 

….

 

Comic tore off a bit of meat and held it out in front of Sans’ face, to his teeth, ready to apologize and pull away if Sans said he didn’t want to or wasn’t hungry.

 

At first Sans wasn’t sure what the other skeleton wanted. Was it some kind of sign? Did he not like that particular piece of meat?  
  
Well, Sans wouldn’t let it go to waste. He licked it up gently, eating the meat quickly, before nuzzling into Comic’s palm. There. All his meat was good now. In fact, he would tear off some more to give to Comic.

 

Comic smiled softly, tearing out a bit more with his hand before tearing a large part with his mouth, chewing it quietly while he put the other piece to Sans’ face again. “want more?” He giggled, offering the piece, feeding Sans was sort of fun and satisfying, even if it was a _little_ scary!

 

Sans let out a happy purr, the clawed wings starting to knead the ground comfortably. He didn’t quite understand why Comic wanted to feed him suddenly, but his mate seemed happy! So he was happy! And he was getting food out of this, so really, it was a win-win-double-win situation.

 

He ate the piece out of Comic’s hand, licking off the leftover blood from the palm. The palm caressing his cheek before going back for more meat.

 

“...Those two are getting along awfully well all of the sudden,” Grillby muttered surprised to no one in particular.

  
“THAT’S GOOD!!!” Papyrus chirped in reply, though. “THEY SEEM HAPPY! I THINK IT’S REALLY CUTE!”

 

Grillby glanced from Papyrus, back to the couple. Yea… they _were_ really cute…

 

Comic looked up when he heard the others walking back to camp, Reaper and Aster looked tired and frazzled, but calmed down after seeing Comic there, safe and eating.

 

“Oh thank the lord you are okay! When did you get back!?” Aster gasped, gently getting off of Reaper, giving him a few pets as thanks before sitting down on the floor.

 

“They came back not too long ago,” Grillby replied for them. “Sans said they… fell… into a river?”

 

Sans gave a small nod, not paying attention to them otherwise, in fact he was making a point out of ignoring them all, lying his head close to Comic.

 

Gaster let out a surprised gasp. “That’s why we didn’t see you… Are you okay, Comic?”

 

“o-oh! yea, th-thanks ta sans… he saved me…” Comic laughed lightly, nervously and maybe a bit embarrassed. He looked down at Sans with a small smile, his hand went to pet softly between his horns, keeping it light just in case Sans doesn’t want to be touched.

 

“sorry fer worrying ya guys.”

 

Sans hummed quietly, leaning into the touch immediately.

 

“It’s… well…” Gaster let out a tense, slightly exhausted sigh. “Just… please stop running from now on? Neither of the demons would ever want to hurt you.”  
  
“If they’re _really_ causing you trouble, ask us for help,” Grillby chimed in as well. “It’s better than running off alone.”

 

“i-i-i-it wa-wasn’ l-like i thought dey would ‘urt me! sans w-was just really rough, ‘nd it w-was scary. but s-sans is-isn’ gonna do dat n-no more, we t-talked it out.” Comic then thought back on his words and looked a little panicked. “w-w-w-wait! d-d-did ya say ya would stop? er am _i_ p-p-puttin’ werds in yer mouth?”

 

He asked Sans, looking down at him startled, dreading Sans’ answer slightly.

 

Sans lowered his skull, wings slightly flapping uncomfortably. He never _said_ he was going to stop, and Sans has been just content with that. Comic was still… odd. And protecting him had so far turned out to be a lot more difficult. Not to mention that Sans wasn’t even sure what were things that his mate didn’t like or liked.

 

“...’ll try…” He muttered out, though, voice quiet, but audible. 

 

Comic gave a loud relief sigh, resting his head on Sans’ head. “dat’ good enough fer me, thank ya!” His arms went around Sans’ head, he didn’t even realize what he was doing, hugging Sans’ head like that. But when he did, he pulled away ashamed, gasping. “sorry sorry!” Thinking that maybe a careful and watchful demon wouldn’t like his vision being blocked by his arms, and maybe he felt like his head was being suffocated or squished.

 

“‘s good,” Sans purred out relaxed, bumping his head back up into Comic’s arms, making Comic scramble to wrap his arms around Sans’ head once again.

 

Gaster watched the two for a small moment, thinking over their words. He hadn’t quite realized Sans was someone you could, well… talk with about things like that. He had so far seemed pretty fine with just ignoring what he didn’t want to hear. Though maybe he was simply listening to Comic.

 

“I’m glad you’ve got it figured out,” he replied, though, slowly going back to the carriage to tie the horse onto it again. “It is getting late… I believe it is time for us to sleep soon…”

  


Aster agreed easily, the worry making all his old body tired, following Gaster. Reaper went closer to Comic and Sans, licking Comic on his cheek before going to lay down nearby, completely tired in running around and carrying someone on his back.

 

Comic giggled softly when his brother gave him the loving kiss, accidently squeezing Sans’ head, but loosening it up right away, muttering a quick sorry to his mate.

 

He watched everyone get ready for bed, mostly putting the fire out and making sleeping arrangements. Comic looked down to Sans with curiosity. “will i be sleepin’ with ya?” Moving his arm a little for Sans to be able to see and talk without his sleeves in his face.

 

  
“ye’ please,” Sans purred happily, twisting his body a little so he was more around Comic, his wings covering them both up, as well as a bit of Reaper since he was still close too. “gotta keep y’ safe.”

  


“b-but ‘m safe! yer ‘ere, ‘ight? ‘nd da od’ers too! ’m super duper safe!” Comic smiled nervously, petting lightly from between the horns and the back of Sans’ skull. “stop worryin’ so much, ‘m not runnin’ ‘way ‘gain!”

 

He laid down so he was right next to Sans, on his side to be facing Sans, to talk to him better. “‘m okay, sans.”

  


“y’re safe _‘cause_ ‘m ‘ere,” Sans purred out proudly, leaning into the touch happily. He conveniently ignored the part about the others being here, because Sans personally was not convinced just how helpful they would be if his mate would be in danger. And them running straight past a drowning Comic did not exactly convince Sans more.

  


Comic smiled shyly, looking at the ground, his other hand that wasn’t petting Sans’ head grabbed onto his arm, for a sense of protection, knowing he is here. He really was wrong was he? Just because Sans looked and sometimes acted scary, he was the same monster Comic thought he lost. Sans was different yes, but he still acted like himself, like how protective and loving. When Comic stopped to watch Sans’ reactions, not run away, or fear for his life, Sans was actually pretty sweet.

 

Comic felt a tinge of guilt from running before, remembering how Sans just went right in the river to save him. It was really sweet, and how he made Comic eat, not caring he ate it raw, and even backed him up. He might be a little rough, but he said he would try, and that meant so much to the sorcerer.

 

Just the fact Sans is willing to make him happy, try to fulfill his needs, it meant so much.

 

Comic smiled warmly at Sans, more confident, he leaned into the demon and hugged Sans close. “thank ya so much sans, yer so cool!” He buried his face into the crook of Sans’ neck, his smile wide, his hold firm and strong, yet it could be easily broken with how physically weak Comic is, but it was still tight and strong for Comic.

  


Sans purr was loud, happy and content as he nuzzled into Comic’s hug. So much more confident than the touch before, it made him feel like Comic really _wanted_ him. Really _wanted_ to hug him, and that made Sans _so_ happy.

 

He wrapped his arms around Comic as well, wings cocooning them both as he rolled for them to lie comfortably. “sleep time,” he purred out, licking over Comic’s face softly. “night, love.”

 

“night snas.” Comic whispered, not realizing what he just called his mate, before closing his eyes and relaxing into his grip, not long after he fell into a peaceful slumber.


	59. where comic might just give Sans multiple soul attacks

Comic had woke up to the feeling of a dry throat, his mouth tasting awful with no moisture. He gently moved Sans’ arms and wings, making sure to be very gentle and quiet, before walking over to where the supplies were hidden. He got out the pouch of water, but when he grabbed it, he felt how empty it was inside. He looked around a little worriedly, but sighed in relief when he saw a very tiny stream, the rocks had tiny rivers slipping past them, making little strings of water fall to the little stream that went on for who knows how long. The point was, it was right there, it would be easy to get the water, and no danger of drowning.

 

He slipped past the others, grabbing his staff on the way and sneaked his way over to the little stream, sitting on the heel of his feet when he bent down, he opened the pouch and lined it under one of the strings of water. It looked so clean and clear, it felt cold too, with the cool feeling Comic can feel from the pouch skin.

  
  


Sans hadn’t felt Comic slipping out, though he  _ did _ notice the lack of closeness, the missing source of warmth. Like when your blanket fell off the bed. It took a few moments, but slowly woke Sans up. At first he wasn’t sure  _ what _ was off,  _ why _ he woke up, until he noticed  _ Comic missing. _

 

He jumped up with a startled yelp, panicky looking around to spot his mate. He only calmed down when he picked up his mate’s smell quickly, before also spotting him. Dammit! Why did he have to keep doing that.

 

Sans walked over to him tiredly and grumpily, only stopping when he reached his mate, bumping his nose into him in slight annoyance.

  
  


By then Comic had finally filled up the pouch and tilted it into his mouth, closing his sockets to enjoy the cool feeling. But the moment he felt something touch his back he gasped, choking on the water, but he didn’t let that stop him. No, he let go of the pouch and grabbed his staff, whipping it around to smack whatever touched him, letting out a terrified yelp, short enough to not wake the others, slightly muffled by his coughing.

 

The staff smacked Sans’ face, Comic flinching back when he saw Sans standing there instead of…. well anyone or anything else. He gasped in horror, dropping the stick and moving to hug Sans close, but stopped himself. He didn’t know if Sans would like to be touched right now, if he would accept his hug when he was the one to hit him.

 

But that didn’t keep him quiet. “o-o-o-oh m-m-my l-! ‘m so so so so so s-s-sorry! ‘m so-sorry, ‘m sorry, ‘m s-s-sorry, ‘m so sorry!” Comic almost wailed, his body shaking in shame and guilt.

  
  


Sans let out a small, surprised grunt, dropping to the ground as soon as he got hit. And he kept lying there, letting out quiet but long dying wails, like a tortured swan. It didn’t even hurt that bad, though with already being tired and slightly annoyed with Comic leaving in the first place, he was no fan of this at all.

  
  


Tears appeared from the corner of Comic’s sockets, he didn’t care anymore that Sans didn’t want to touch him, he only wanted to make sure he was okay. So Comic quickly grabbed Sans’ head and held it in his lap, petting and rubbing at the part he had hit Sans with, muttering apologies non stop.

 

“‘m s-so sorry! ya s-scared me! ‘m so so s-so sorry!” His hold on the head tightened, like Sans’ head was sacred and he cradled it like it held everything dear.

  
  


Sans didn’t complain when Comic was petting him, but he did let out another gruff grunt. “y’ left me ‘gain,” he muttered out, his voice quiet and slightly rough from having been asleep not too long ago.

  
  


“i was gettin’ wad’er!” Comic defended himself quickly, his tone high and fast. “t’was ‘ight d’ere, i was comin’ back in a second!” He swayed slightly, cradling Sans’ head better, leaving small kisses to make him feel better. “‘m so sorry…. ‘re ya okay?”

  
  


Sans was frowning up at him, but it was exaggerated, almost comically. “‘m ok,” he muttered out, returning some of the kisses despite his still very present frown. “could’ve taken me with ya, though. i don’-... i need y’ close…” He lowered his head slightly at the last few words, as much as he could with it still being cradled by Comic, like he was ashamed of what he was saying.

  
  


“awww,” Comic cooed, looking down at Sans lovingly, he stopped moving, instead focusing on Sans himself, one of his hands went to the demons cheek, caressing it. “i didn’ wanna bod’er wakin’ ya if i was gonna be back in a second, yer so strong ‘nd cool, ya needed yer s-sleep.” Comic tried to explain himself, smiling nervously now.

 

“‘m sorry i worried ya, but ‘m ‘ight ‘ere, it will be fine.” Comic pulled Sans closer, so his head was to his chest, one hand resting behind the demons head while the other to his back, so he could hold Sans securly. “thank ya fer carin’ so much, it’ very sweet of ya.” Comic said softly, his tone dripped thick with honey.

  
  


Sans didn’t say anything back, didn’t know what the right thing to say was. But he was purring loudly, moving his own arms to wrap around Comic’s abdomen, cuddling into him contently. It was odd to hear what was once his strong and cool mate call  _ him _ strong and cool.

 

“y’re soft an’ cute,” Sans finally decided to hum back at him, face nuzzling into his mate’s chest. “an’ good in scarin’ me. i love ya…”

  
  


“o-oh! ‘m sorry, i don’ mean ta scare ya! ‘ll try ta stop! i love ya too sans, i love ya too!” Comic scrambled to say, smiling down at Sans, before looking behind him to see the pouch lifelessly on the floor, all the water he collected flowed out when he dropped it. He reached for it, his throat was still dry anyways.

 

Only to lose balance and fall to his side softly, Sans’ weight pushing him down more. Comic laughed softly at the demon, “oops, ‘m a clutz, sorry ‘bout dat.”

  
  


Sans quirked a brow at his mate, having fallen with him onto the ground. Hoh boy. This one was going to be a hard one to protect, wasn’t he? He was acting like a newly born deer, technically able to function on his own, but clumsily and vulnerably so.

 

“not leavin’ your side again,” Sans decided determinedly, clutching tighter onto Comic.

  
  


Comic laughed nervously, his face going a dark shade of cyan, “haha, can i get wad’er den, please?” Shaking the pouch he finally got to Sans to show him what he meant.

 

  
Sans let out a long hum as he watched the pouch, scrunching up his brow like he was thinking about it  _ very  _ hard.

 

“mmhh… fine,” he muttered out eventually, gently getting off his mate so he could refill the pouch. He approached the little stream himself as well, bending down to lick up some of the water, but still keeping an eye on Comic.

  
  


The sorcerer laughed lightly, running a hand down Sans’ spine once before using both hands to fill the pouch, one holding it from the bottom to support the growing weight of the water, and the other to hold the mouth piece to the water. He kept still until it was filled, taking a few big gulps from the pouch itself.

 

Once he felt like he had enough water, he refilled the pouch and corked it, looking at Sans. “da ya wanna go back now?” He wasn’t really asking, it was just a way to tell Sans he was ready, he knew Sans was waiting on  _ him  _ than the other way around.

  
  


Sans let out a purr in response anyway. He picked Comic up easily, arms around his chest, to carry them back to the carriage. In fact, rather than sleeping where they first had, Sans swiftly jumped onto the roof to sleep on there, curled up around his mate.

  
  


Comic laid the pouch next to them, his arms going around Sans and looking down the carriage as much as he could. “i-is…. dis safe?”

  
  


Sans only pulled Comic closer, hand going to turn his head away from looking down and giving it a soft pet. “‘t is if y’ stay with me,” he purred out casually, wings going to cover them both.

  
  


“okay.” Comic answered, cuddling up to Sans and closing his sockets, trusting Sans would keep him safe.

 

-

 

Morning came around and Comic was looking down from the carriage diegetically, Aster was at the bottom of the carriage coaxing his son to jump into his arms, while Reaper looked amused, watching from next to his father. 

 

Comic was sitting up with Sans to his side sleeping, the young sorcerer looked at the demon then back at his father. “but sans doesn’ wan’ ta be ‘part from me.” he argued, one hand squeezing Sans’ arm.

 

“You are going to fall Comic, if you can’t do it yourself then wake him up.” Aster called back, getting a whimper from his son.

 

Comic looked down at the sleeping demon, hesitant in waking him from his peaceful sleep. He gently and ever so softly shook his shoulder, whispering near Sans’ head. “sans….. sans…. i wanna get down sans, please wake up…. if ya want of course, ‘m not forcin’ ya, i can wait too…”

 

Aster face palmed at the last part, getting a snicker from Reaper.

  
  


Instead of responding or even waking up, Sans reached out with both his wings, grabbing Comic and pulling him close, clinging to his mate like a baby bat to it’s mother.

 

Comic sighed, giving into his fate.

 

Aster looked at Reaper with a pleading look, who sighed and went over to the side of the carriage grabbing Comic’s foot before dragging him off the carriage completely. 

 

Comic yelped in surprise, batting at Sans lightly to wake him before he got his staff before it was to late.

 

He landed in Reaper’s arms, with the demon beginning to fly so Sans can see them the second he wakes, Comic safe in his arms.

  
  


And Sans  _ did _ wake up. When he could feel Comic getting  _ pulled _ from him, he jolted awake startled, looking for his mate only to find him in Reaper’s arms. Oh, that wasn’t fair. He was supposed to be in Sans’ arms!   
  
“ _ my mate! _ ” He growled over to the other demon, demanding Comic back in his arms.

  
  


“ _ MY  _ BROTHER.” Reaper said, nice and proud, his face and aura saying it all. Like he was reminding Sans how Death was really into Sans  _ not  _ hurting Reaper in the slightest, teasing him while he held Comic close.

 

Hell he barely got to spend time with his own brother now, he wants time with him, Sans can’t just always hog him.

 

Reaper smirked, before turning and flying away slowly to the camp, like he was trying to tease Sans as much as possible, where the two flames were making breakfast, Comic waving as he slowly got farther away.

  
  


Sans growled quietly after him, not liking the idea of Reaper taking Comic from him  _ at all, _ let alone the way he was mocking him. He crouched down onto his legs, butt high and giving a small wiggle. Before he pounced.

 

His wings spread as soon as he was in the air, letting him sail farther to reach the other demon, clinging to him with his arms and legs as soon as he could.

 

“my mate!”

  
  


Reaper yelped in surprise, but he quickly balanced himself with the new weight, gliding towards the camp. Comic looked over Reaper’s shoulder and down his back, to see Sans clinging to his brother. 

 

Comic waved again, a smile on his face, “hi sans! nice ta see ya ‘wake!” he sounded excited, with a happy cheer. “did ya sleep well?” Oh sweet comic, please help this child.

  
  


Sans let out a happy, excited purr hearing his mate talk to him, climbing Reaper a bit so he could get closer to him.

  
“slept well,” he hummed out. “woke up less well. you?” He was barely even bothering with the fact anymore that he was still hanging from another demon, only having eyes for his beloved mate.

  
  


“i slept well! thanks fer askin’! Comic cheered, joyful with tons of smiles to go around, his smile can light up a whole room and more with how much he is beaming.

  
  


Gaster came out of the carriage together with Papyrus a bit later, needing to take a double take when he saw the cluster of creatures in the sky. Well… sometimes it be like that.

 

“OOOHH!!! I WANNA BE PART OF THAT TOO!” Papyrus cheered immediately, already running up to Reaper, trying to make the jump.

  
  


Reaper decided to throw Papyrus a bone and turn his direction to him, so they all landed on the poor skeleton, thankfully he moved his arms so his own weight and the other skeletons he was holding wouldn’t squish Papyrus.

  
  


Papyrus let out a surprised yelp having all the monsters on him, but quickly turned it into an excited squeak. 

 

“HELLO!!!” He chirped excitedly, wrapping his arms around Reaper, but having the greeting address all of them. “GOOD MORNING!!! DID YOU SLEEP WELL??”

 

Sans  _ heard _ Papyrus, and he could tell he was involved in this too, but… he still wasn’t sure if he should answer or not and just gave him back a small purr instead, before climbing closer to Comic.

  
  


“hi papyrus!” Comic tried to turn his head to smile at the younger sorcerer, but being  _ sans _ wiched by him and Reaper didn’t make for good movement. He could only face towards the sky, to Sans.

 

His hand traveled to land on Sans, rubbing his cheek, since that was the only thing he could reach with Reaper’s broad shoulders in the way.

 

Reaper chirped at the skeleton under him, getting up and shaking everyone off of him, removing himself from the pile of skeletons, admiring his work in bringing three skeletons tangled together. 

  
  


Sans landed on his back, fully capable of moving onto his feet, but feeling like now would be a time to lie on his back, legs up and glance towards his mate upside down. He kicked out with his hooves a little, making small chirping noises at him.

  
  


Comic looked at Sans and smiled, giggling at his antics. “hi sans,” Crawling over to Sans’ head, he was looking at Sans from upside down, Comic’s head hovering over Sans’.

 

His hands freely went to grab each side of Sans’ head, fingers grazing the skull light in small pets.

  
  


Papyrus on the other hand got off the ground, stretching a little, before getting some of the dirt off his clothes. He came up towards Reaper again, giving him a soft pet.

 

“ARE YOU THE ONLY ONE GOING FOR HUNTS NOW???” He asked curiously. He knew Comic couldn’t hunt anymore, though he wasn’t sure about Sans. Did Sans hunt?

  
  


Reaper whined softly, looking at Papyrus quiet sad of the new development. 

  
  


“I CAN COME WITH YOU IF YOU WANT!” Papyrus pretty much had already decided he was going to offer this before he knew his answer. “I’M NOT A BIG HUNTER, BUT I DID FEED DEATH IN THE VERY BEGINNING!!!”

  
  


Comic looked towards the bigger skeletons, gasping. “oh, ‘re ya sad dat death can’ hunt with ya? no, ‘m sorry,  _ i  _ can still be useful, i can be just as good as death! let me come too!” Comic sat up, looking hopefully towards Reaper, his staff in his hand.

 

Reaper’s sockets widen as he looked between Comic and Papyrus, both of the weakest members of the group want to help him hunt, and yes it was sweet. So sweet. He felt loved and important, but these two he doesn’t trust to help  _ at all _ , only try to and end up getting hurt.

 

But they looked so hopeful….

 

“FINE…..” Reaper grumbled, looking away to hide his blush.

  
  


Papyrus let out an excited, happy cheer, before letting dissolve into a confident cackle. “YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!!” He assured the demon proudly. “I WILL BE AN EXCELLENT AID!!!”   
  
Sans on the other hand wasn’t sure how he felt about this development… Sure, Death hunted a  _ lot _ , but Death also was strong and had claws and wings… 

 

“‘s dangerous…” Sans muttered out quietly. He was still lying on his back, looking up at Comic, trying to raise his head to bump him slightly.

  
  


“so?” Comic asked, looking back down at Sans with a wide frown. “death hunted all da time, why can’ i? we’re da same person.” Comic used his staff as a cane, pushing himself up and glaring at his mate with little tears in the corner of his sockets.

 

“‘m gonna prove ta ya dat i am good too! dat i can be  _ just  _ as good as death, den maybe ya would like me like death too! ‘m gonna prove it, prove ta ya i can!” Comic said confidently, before marching over to Reaper and Papyrus, who were starting to walk to the forest lines, calling back to his father and others that they will be back soon.

  
  


Sans followed up quickly. Whether he liked Comic going to hunt or not, he was in no way going to let him go alone. Let alone let him leave on such a note.

 

He appeared next to Comic quickly, rubbing himself onto Comic’s legs, like a cat marking their territory. “y’re good,” Sans purred out, his tone apologetic. “y’re so… soft though…” He lifted one of his wings a little at that point, gently letting the clawed joint hold onto Comic’s oh so clawless hand.

  
  


Comic’s hand squeezed it, his determination and pride showing. “but ya looked so sad when i woke up, every time, ‘nd yer mostly likely happy when death comes back. i know everyone likes death, perfers em. i just wanna show dat ‘m good too, i want ta be wanted too.” Comic whispered the last part, and just to make sure Sans wouldn’t say anything if he heard, Comic glanced to the demon with something fierce. 

 

“i know ya like  _ death  _ more dan me, don’ lie, everyone does.”

  
  


Sans wasn’t even sure what to say. That Comic was wrong? Would he even believe it even if Sans said it?   
  
Yes, Sans loved Death. Sans missed Death. But Comic was just… some other, softer version of Death, and he loved  _ him _ too.

 

“y’re silly,” Sans purred quietly, tone slightly irritated, but it was soft and loving. “y’re good. i love y’. reaper does, too.”   
  
“I DO, TOO!!!” Papyrus added. “IN A VERY PLATONIC WAY!”

  
  


“hmm,” Comic hummed, only for some sort of reply for everyone, but it was clear he didn’t believe it, his face still looked determined, ready.

 

Reaper cooed softly, looking at Comic from the side, but he didn’t say anything, it was hard seeing his brother try to prove himself, so hard too.

  
He remembered Death, the brother  _ he  _ known, but the demon side wasn’t everything, this one was too. He decided later he would give Comic more attention later, to make it up.

**Author's Note:**

> hey, leave a comment and kudos to show your support, it goes a long way to make our days.
> 
> p.s. dont just think "oh, im sure theres enough people commenting on it, my comment wont matter", it does. every voice matters, every voice makes it easier to go on and keep updating.
> 
> also check out our [discord](https://discord.gg/79zKXhU) and [my (gaylie's)](https://perhapshomo.tumblr.com) and [comic's](https://comic4244.tumblr.com) tumblrs! 
> 
> Also don't forget to visit by our [Seath](https://ask-seath.tumblr.com/) and [Kustard](https://ask-kustard.tumblr.com/) ask blogs!


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